Summer New (Hiroshima) Moon
Concentrating on Hiroshima for this month’s moon. August 6th is a day we should all remember, not as an outlier event, but, as an example, perhaps the example, of our consistently destructive nature. Our, by the way, means humanity, not the United States.
The U.S. is not unique in its tendency to mete out violence; in fact, historically speaking, we appear restrained, especially since we have not had imperial ambitions. (Yes, I know the arguments about Amerika and the overseas colonies created by capitalism and military bases. Doesn’t hold a candle to England, Rome, USSR, even China as it swallows Tibet and aims for the Spratly Islands.)
Point is, we like to break things and kill each other as a species. As a species, you could say we’re at the late toddler stage only with really powerful toys. This tendency to self-murder is, for the most part, species specific. Only chimps, as far as I now, kill each other for reasons other than dominance or in the heat of feeding.
Steven Pinker has a hopeful book out which I have not read, The Better Angels of Our Nature, that claims to show that violence, especially in the West, has been in decline in the short and long term perspectives. I hope he’s right, but even if he is, it doesn’t change any of my observations.
A conservative take on this data is to be fatalistic about it, to shrug and let it go, “It’s just who we are.” Personally, I take a piece of that-it is who we are-but we are also responsible for our choices. We can choose to push ourselves away from violent solutions. Will we ever become a peaceful species? I doubt it, especially with nationalism still informing political decision making at the global level.
At the global level might makes right still rules the day and that makes peace a tough place to get to.
So, for this next full moon, let’s think about Hiroshima. What it means. Why we should say Never again.
