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Published: July 25th 2010
The A-bomb Dome
The view from my park benchI am sitting on a park bench looking at what is now known as the A-bomb Dome. Up until August 6, 1945, it was the Industrial Promotion Hall of Hiroshima. All of that changed when it became one of the few structures left standing in the epicenter of the first atomic bomb dropped on a city. Everyone inside the building disintegrated when the A-bomb exploded almost directly above it. The structure remains standing as a memorial to that event.
The building itself has a five-story concrete cylinder center with brick and concrete wings squaring off around it. A metal dome, like a skeleton of half the earth with just the lines of lattitude and longitude remaining, stands on top, and a twisted spiral staircase creeps up the side. There were many windows, but they are now pockets of blue sky and white clouds framed by concrete squares.
An outer cloister, also made of concrete, surrounds the shell of the building. It's walls are charcoal in color--a 66 year old stain of soot and smoke. Brick and stone rubble surround the area... and then grass. Remnants of a stone fountain stand nearby.
A steady stream of people walk by
The broken fountain
Front view of the A-Bomb dome as I sit on this park bench and write. Their hushed, somber conversations are muted by the insects in the trees: humming, buzzing, screaming, singing, wailing, praying--whatever the sounds of nature-reborn make.
Ironically, the other sounds come from the baseball stadium to the right of where I am sitting. The singing, clapping and cheering remind me how life goes on.
My writing is interrupted by a pair of young girls in school uniforms bearing a petition. They show me the English translation which calls for an end to nuclear weapons. I sign the petition with the hope and belief that life can go on better.
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Stephanie
non-member comment
Wow!
Life does go on, but some things still seem so terribly wrong. Good for those students and their petitions. Peace is possible! Love you!