America Forgiven

Source: www.speakup.com.br

Level: Intermediate

A beautiful life history a great example to be followed, have a look at this article, dear readers.

Takashi Tanemori has good reason to hate America. He was eight years old the day the country's armed forces dropped a nuclear bomb on his home city of Hiroshima, on the Japanese Island of Honshu. The bom killed an estimated 140.000 people, including Takashi's father, mother, grandparents and two sisters. Takashi was at school that morning and, seeing as this was one mile from the point where the bomb fell, he survived. Yet he hated America for killing his family and destroying his life. He promised himself he would go there one day and avenge his family by killing Americans. Takash moved to USA when he was 18, but he never killed anyone. Instead he found forgiveness.

MOTHER AND CHILD

Now Takashi is 71 years old. He has survived a suicide attempt, two heart attacks and stomach cancer. He is almost blind as a result of radiation from the bomb. But he isn't angry anymore. He lives in Berkley, California, where he creates works of art about his experiences and promotes peace and forgiveness through his organisation, the Silkworm Peace Institute. He also recorded his experiences in the book Hiroshima: Bridge for Forgiveness. When he met with Speak Up he described how, on the day the bomb fell, his school was buried in rubble and that many other children died, but that he was rescued by a young soldier:

Takashi Tanemori

(Japanese accent)

I saw many children (sic) unrecognisable, burnt, and parents looking for their loved ones. And no image, even this day, I cannot erase from my memories, that the woman- I think woman because, you know, Japanese men never carried the baby on their back, you know- but...unrecognisable, and, as she was calling the names other children of her (sic), then, as she passed by, and the soldier clutched me, he said, "I saw the woman had a baby on her back and the baby's head was blown off 10". I don't think she recognised that, you know. Even to this day I cannot erase how horrifyinng for her (If would have been) to discover it that night. Oh, that's just beyond me. So that is truly, truly a painful image that I cannot erase.

A DAUGHTER'S LOVE

He then explained how, many years later, his daughter taught him to change his attitude:

Takashi Tanemori:

She was 11 years old. She said, "Daddy, I know what you've been trying to do: get even with Americans. But you know, Daddy, just like Americans dropped  the bomb on Hiroshima, that someone survived. So, even if you try to kill all the grown-ups, but that some are going to escape and that they're going to come after you, in a sense, to get even with you, that your children are going to suffer. They're going to come after your children, me and my two brothers. Is that how you want (sic)? Is that how you satisfy your own heart? So, Daddy, is there any other way?