Hiroshima Day

Humanity is blessed, and cursed, with the knowledge, and the power of good and evil. The good is amazing. But, we must also understand our potential for even greater evil, if we ever hope to control it.

Aug. 6 was the 68th anniversary of the beyond horrific events that effectively ended World War II, unquestionably the bloodiest, most painful period in the memory of our species. During that war, people killed 60 million other people, dwarfing the unprecedented and previously unimaginable 10 million deaths that resulted from World War I (aka "The War to End All Wars").

Between them, the bombs America dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki killed more than 250,000 of those people. Almost were all civilians. That two-day death toll nearly matches the terrible total of lives lost (estimated at 300,000, nearly all in uniform) by the United States in the entire four years we fought World War II.

Many lessons are there for us as we look back on this, the most tragic line, in the hardest chapter in human history.

It is necessary that we open that memory once again. Uncomfortable as it is, we absolutely can't afford not to re-read carefully this terrible chapter.

And try to learn.

Steve Lewis

Park City