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Thursday, September 4, 2014

Murakami on Hiroshima & Nagasaki

You may know that Patti Smith reviewed the new novel by Haruki Murakami on front-page of NYT Book Review last month.  This jogged my memory--I recalled seeing a brilliant speech by him a couple years back that covered the atomic bombings, Japan, Fukushima and all of us as "perpetrators."  Here is link to all of it.   One small bit:  
Dr. Robert Oppenheimer was the central figure in the development of the atomic bomb during the Second World War. But when Oppenheimer learned of the horrific results of those nuclear bombs at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, he was deeply disturbed. Reportedly he turned to President Truman and said,
“Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands.”

President Truman took from his pocket a neatly folded white handkerchief, remarking, “Well here, would you like to wipe your hands?”

Needless to say, you cannot find a spotless handkerchief large enough to wipe away that much blood anywhere in the world.

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