Nuclear Power: Dangerous, Powerful, and Effective

It's hard to know exactly where to start after seeing a video that describes one of the most horrific days in the world's history. Thousands and thousands of people died on that day and thousands and thousands died later from the radiation. Imagine if all of a sudden a bomb hit Menlo Park, Atherton, San Carlos, Redwood City, Burligame, and San Mateo all at the same time. Imagine the majority of your friends dead. Not being able to go back to school because not only are the majority of your teachers dead but also your school has been flattened. It is important to understand our nation's past struggles and also the struggles of other nations. It is hard to believe that our government decided to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Truman had to have realized that he would change the world forever with the decision to drop the bomb. He had to have realized that thousands of people would die. Thousands of innocent civilians. Many people during this time would greatly disagree with my opinion. At the time people celebrated this day and this day lead to what was known as V-J Day (Victory of Japan). I discussed this topic with my great uncle E.G. "Bud" Siemon. He said that in his town there was great celebration when news came in of the bomb dropping. I think that NBC decided to air this piece in 1995 simply because early in our history we were proud of this moment. It was only until later that we began to notice the harm that the bomb truly did. Not only did it kill thousands on impact, yet it continues to eat away at innocent Japanese civilians. The U.S. felt that they needed to end the war abruptly and also that they still needed to get revenge after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. Not only did the U.S. harm the Japanese in Japan but they also harmed the American Japanese in the creation of the Japanese internment camps. These camps were also known as "War Relocation Camps" and their main purpose was to move all Japanese men, women, and children into camps because many believed after Pearl Harbor that the Japanese were trying to completely take over the west coast. Later President Ronald Reagan rid these horrible camps and apologized for the nation. It seems like this movie is almost like a small version of what Reagan did. Now after sixty-four years it seems like we finally have been able to understand the true dangers of the nuclear bomb and the affects it has on the human body. To me it seems as if there is two distinct perspectives of WII. The people that lived during this time may still believe that the U.S. did the right thing seeing that the bomb did end the war. The other perspective is of the people born after or during the war who sympathize with the victims of the brutal nuclear bomb. I hope that as a nation we have learned the true power of the nuclear bomb and think long and hard before we decide to use another one.