(no subject)
This morning I had a really vivid dream.
I was in Japan with other American friends and we were in this outdoor cafe and there were mostly other international students around. Everything was very surreal...in fact, it looked a lot like Disneyland. We were sitting at this table that was like inserted into the boulders on the side of a hill and we were being nostalgic and chatting about high school memories. I looked up from the table and saw smoke behind the hill. My point of view shifted and I could see that it was a mushroom cloud. Two more bombs were dropped behind us and we started to run out of the cafe and up this really steep hill. I could hear older Japanese men yell, "Mushroom!" as they ran. I began to notice as we were running that there were signs posted in English warning any Americans that there was going to be an attack. In my dream I had already understood that the American government was responsible for the attack. But when I saw the signs I wondered why I hadn't seen them before and I realized that they were always facing the wrong way and I never turned around to read them but I was seeing them now as we were all running from this impending doom. I kept tripping and getting my foot caught in potholes. My friends were trying to pick me up and move me along because we came to this wall of protesters who were trying to grab runners and keep them from running. The protesters were tiny and pale and expressionless...like aliens. They were dressed in jumpsuits and each jumpsuit was a different nation's flag. They were trying to make a statement I think and were going to face the wave of fire and radiation that was coming towards us.
Then I woke up....terrified.
I started to think about Makiguchi and the people who warned and protested about Japan's militarization. Japan was bombed into submission and forced to demilitarize. So to say Japan is a peaceful nation is kind of obvious and I can't really know because I'm not Japanese but I would say that the Atomic bombs really changed that society because nobody was willing to pay that high of a price for power. I can never know the horror of that experience and I will never believe that it was a justified action.
I began to think that one day we will have to pay the price in the United States. I don't know what it will be. Maybe we will finally get to a place where enough of the lives of our fathers and our peers and maybe even our children will be wasted and we will submit. The most terrifying part of the dream was not being able to read those signs until we were running away. I knew as I was running that even if I survived I would be wasted and now it was too late to warn anybody...it was too late to get out.
I was in Japan with other American friends and we were in this outdoor cafe and there were mostly other international students around. Everything was very surreal...in fact, it looked a lot like Disneyland. We were sitting at this table that was like inserted into the boulders on the side of a hill and we were being nostalgic and chatting about high school memories. I looked up from the table and saw smoke behind the hill. My point of view shifted and I could see that it was a mushroom cloud. Two more bombs were dropped behind us and we started to run out of the cafe and up this really steep hill. I could hear older Japanese men yell, "Mushroom!" as they ran. I began to notice as we were running that there were signs posted in English warning any Americans that there was going to be an attack. In my dream I had already understood that the American government was responsible for the attack. But when I saw the signs I wondered why I hadn't seen them before and I realized that they were always facing the wrong way and I never turned around to read them but I was seeing them now as we were all running from this impending doom. I kept tripping and getting my foot caught in potholes. My friends were trying to pick me up and move me along because we came to this wall of protesters who were trying to grab runners and keep them from running. The protesters were tiny and pale and expressionless...like aliens. They were dressed in jumpsuits and each jumpsuit was a different nation's flag. They were trying to make a statement I think and were going to face the wave of fire and radiation that was coming towards us.
Then I woke up....terrified.
I started to think about Makiguchi and the people who warned and protested about Japan's militarization. Japan was bombed into submission and forced to demilitarize. So to say Japan is a peaceful nation is kind of obvious and I can't really know because I'm not Japanese but I would say that the Atomic bombs really changed that society because nobody was willing to pay that high of a price for power. I can never know the horror of that experience and I will never believe that it was a justified action.
I began to think that one day we will have to pay the price in the United States. I don't know what it will be. Maybe we will finally get to a place where enough of the lives of our fathers and our peers and maybe even our children will be wasted and we will submit. The most terrifying part of the dream was not being able to read those signs until we were running away. I knew as I was running that even if I survived I would be wasted and now it was too late to warn anybody...it was too late to get out.