[jebarker]

I visited Hiroshima about ten years ago while on vacation with my wife. The museum presents accounts of the day and artifacts from the bombing very plainly, which by their very nature means it's horrifying. I've always had some "normal" level of fear of nuclear war. The first decade of my life was in the UK during the last decade of the cold war, so I think that planted that seed. I don't think visiting Hiroshima increased that fear about nuclear weapons though. My overwhelming memory of the day is just deep sadness that we have the capacity to do something like that to each other. I do also remember feeling some glimmer of hope coming out of the museum as there was information about the current anti-nuclear weapons movement and, apart from the Genbaku Dome, you would never know that Hiroshima was the site of a nuclear bombing based on the city today. So maybe it's possible to recover from anything.

Before that visit I felt that I could detach myself emotionally from the reality of an event like that and make justifications for the continued existence of nuclear weapons for "bigger picture" reason. Now I find it impossible to make those kind of arguments. So I think I grew up a little that day and became more empathetic to others at an individual level.

[hammyhavoc]

From one Brit to another, this is exactly what I needed to hear. Thank you. I know I need to do this now.