Hiroshima, Nagasaki, USA Terrorism and JC: Part 1

"We live in a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants, in a world that has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. We have solved the mystery of the atom and forgotten the lessons of the Sermon on The Mount. We know more about war than we know about peace, more about dying than we know about living."-General Omar Nelson Bradley, Armistice Day, 1948

August 6th and 9th 2008, marks the 63rd anniversary of the most brutal act of terrorism upon innocent people; America's atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

At 2:45 AM, on August 6, 1945, an American B-29 bomber flew north from Tinian Island toward Japan. Three and a half hours later, the Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" an 8,900-pound atomic weapon upon civilians in Hiroshima and leveled almost 90% of the city. On August 9, "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki, and one third of that city was destroyed.

"Little Boy" was fueled by highly enriched uranium-235 and generated a destructive force of about 15 kilotons—the equivalent of 15,000 tons of TNT. "Fat Man" consisted of a plutonium core surrounded by high explosives wired to explode simultaneously and yielded a 22 kiloton explosion.

As a child, I could not comprehend how my country could cold bloodedly target and murder an estimated 110,000 Japanese citizens and severely injure another 130,000 innocent civilians in order to 'save' American lives, which was the response I always received from every adult I questioned.

As an adult, I am aggrieved that no government official has expressed sorrow for the lives that were vaporized and those that were devastated in 1945, or for the 230,000 innocent Japanese who had died from injuries and radiation poisoning by 1950.  

If THAT DAY, we call 9/11 taught us anything, it should be that America's nuclear arsenal cannot defeat 'terrorism' or provide security from the actions of a few violent mad men who target and murder innocent ones.

America has a nuclear arsenal of over 10,000 weapons and nearly 2,000 remain on hair-trigger alert ever since the end of the Cold War.

An estimated 150 – 240 tactical nuclear weapons remain based in 5 NATO countries and the United States is the only country with nuclear weapons deployed on foreign soil.

American taxpayers provide $54 billion annually to maintain WMD's, which is but a drop in the bucket of the overall U.S. military spending. The U.S. is also a co-conspirator in international nuclear apartheid and collaborator in Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity.

American money is imprinted with "IN GOD WE TRUST" but reality is we have become a nation of hypocrites.

In the Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, and Anglican churches, the Feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus: The Prince of Peace is observed on August 6th.

The Transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the synoptic gospels in which Jesus became radiant having undergone a metamorphosis, a transformation.

COMPLEX TRANSFORMATION   

"The question is not how much more sophisticated our plants and weapons can become, but how serious we are as a nation to lead the world with an alternative vision which interprets power differently and promotes peaceful coexistence globally."—Rev. Dr. John Chryssavgis, Theological Advisor to the Ecumenical Patriarch on Environmental Issues, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, spoke about Complex Transformation at the National Press Club:

"Complex Transformation is the Bush administration proposed plan to restructure the nation's nuclear weapons infrastructure.

"The administration's goal is to consolidate existing nuclear facilities while increasing the capacity to produce material for new nuclear weapons. According to a report jointly released by the Energy Department (DOE) on January 10, 2008, the administration seeks an annual production capacity of 80 plutonium pits (read: triggers for new nuclear bombs) as a result of the transformation.

"The main justification for the program is the perceived need for a more adaptable and responsive nuclear infrastructure to react to unnamed future threats. The administration is currently considering several alternatives for achieving its goals."[1]

 2,000 years ago, "the cross…was neither a religious icon nor metaphor for personal anguish or humility. It had only one meaning: that terrible form of capitol punishment reserved by imperial Rome for political dissenters. The cross was a common sight in the revolutionary Palestine of Mark's time; in this recruiting call, the disciple is invited to reckon with the consequences facing those who dare to challenge the hegemony of imperial Rome."-Ched Myers, Sojourners Magazine, August 2007, page 28.  

In America, we have a lot of religion about Jesus, but not much of the religion Jesus actually taught, which is summed up in The Beatitudes; The Sermon on the Mount.

About 2,000 years ago, when Christ was about 33, he hiked up a hill and sat down under an olive tree and began to teach the people;

"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven."

In other words: it is those who know their own spiritual poverty, their own limitations and sins honestly and trust God loves them just as they are, who already live in the Kingdom of God.
How comforted we will all be, when we see, we haven't got a clue, as to the depth and breadth of pure love and mercy of The Divine Mystery of The Universe.

God's name in ancient Aramaic is Abba which means Daddy as much as Mommy and He/She: The Lord has said, "My ways are not your ways. My thoughts are not your thoughts." -Isaiah 55:8

Christ proclaimed more: "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

The essence of meek is to be patient with ignorance, slow to anger and never hold a grudge. In other words: how happy you will be when you also know humility; when you know yourself, the good and the bad, for both cut through every human heart.

"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, they will be filled."

In other words: how happy you will be when your greatest desire is to do what "God requires, and he has already told you what that is; BE JUST, BE MERCIFUL and walk humbly with your Lord."-Micah 6:8

"Blessed are the merciful, they will be shown mercy."

In other words: how happy you will all be when you choose to return only kindness to your enemy, for the only way to break the cycle of evil and violence is with good.

"For with the measure you measure against another, it will be measured back to you," Christ warns his disciples as he explains the law of karma in Luke 6:27-38.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they see God."

In other words: how happy you will be when you WAKE UP and see God is already within you, within every man, woman and child. The Supreme Being is everywhere, the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Beyond The Universe -and yet so small; within the heart of every atom.

And the bottom line of exactly who the children of God are is summed up in Matthew 5:9:

"Blessed are The Peacemakers: THEY shall be called the children of God."

Many Americans live under the delusion that the USA is a Christian nation. If that were true, we would lead the way in nuclear disarmament and abolish war.

The bombs that landed on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were but baby steps to 21st Century nuclear weapons that if set off, by human design, or accident will reap the end of civilization as we now know it; for the nuclear fallout in the air and water will return as bad karma in nuclear poison unto the ones who sought to destroy 'the other'.

2,000 years ago, a social justice, radical revolutionary Palestinian devout Jewish road warrior and prophet named Jesus, rose up [intifada in Arabic] and challenged the job security of the corrupt Temple by teaching the people that they did not have to pay the high priests for ritual baths or to sacrifice livestock to be OK with God;

For God already loved them just as they were; sinners, outcasts, diseased, cripples, poor and oppressed common folk, widows, orphans and prisoners enduring under military occupation.

2,000 years ago the Roman Occupying Forces routinely crucified any agitator for disturbing the status quo of the elite.

 "If any want to be my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me."-Jesus quoted in Mark 8:34.  

To Be Continued...

1. http://www.faithfulsecurity.org/html/complex_transformation.html
 

Eileen Fleming, Reporter and Editor WAWA:
http://www.wearewideawake.org/
Author "Keep Hope Alive" and "Memoirs of a Nice Irish American 'Girl's' Life in Occupied Territory"
Producer "30 Minutes With Vanunu" and "13 Minutes with Vanunu"