Hiroshima-Nagasaki Message of Condolence
Delivered to Peaceful Tomorrows during a Japanese delegation visit to the U.S.
On that day, at that time, in that place, they were working, going about their daily lives. Suddenly, without warning, tragedy struck. September 11. The enormous, magnificent twin towers of the World Trade Center collapsed, swallowing over 3000 precious lives. The Pentagon burst into flames. Another commercial jet crashed in Pennsylvania. Scenes of destruction impossible to comprehend.
Like the rest of the world, the people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki watched in horror. Now, on their behalf, we have come to offer our heartfelt prayers for the peaceful repose of the victims and our deepest sympathy and condolences to those who lost treasured friends or family members. We know that 3,000 casualties means far, far more victims. Families, friends, and colleagues are gone; chains of human relationships are broken and must be painfully reassembled.
The people of Hiroshima and Nagasaki know all too well what it means to lose people and relationships. On the 6th and 9th of August 1945, two atomic bombs utterly destroyed our cities, burning or crushing to death over 300 thousand members of our communities. Most of those who survived have been plagued ever since by the after effects of radiation or the sorrow of growing up or growing old alone.
Given this experience, we grieve deeply for the death of innocent civilians in the most painful and destructive attack ever experienced on American territory, and we lament equally the fact that those deaths have led to a new war and more deaths.
We stand here today to console the souls of the victims of the indiscriminate attack on September 11. We offer encouragement to all those who lost friends or family, and we call on you to join hands with us in the effort to end both despair-driven suicide attacks and endless slaughter in the name of retaliation.
We have been deeply moved by the members of the September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. You rose from the depths of personal despair to announce your opposition to any attempt to use the deaths of your loved ones to justify more killing. You have gone to Afghanistan and extended your hands in friendship to people there who have lost innocent loved ones to bombing raids conducted by your own country.
What you have done is a perfect expression of the spirit of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where so many survivors renounced revenge forever. Instead, because they understood that war and nuclear weapons could rob the entire human family of its future, they have worked ceaselessly against violence and for the world as a whole. We believe that we share with you the firm conviction that we must help the whole human race make a transition from a "civilization of power" to a "civilization of love."
For the victims of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for the victims of September 11, for those still dying every day in Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, and elsewhere, let us all make a solemn vow today. Let us pledge ourselves to work in solidarity with those around the world who seek peace and equality, and let us promise to do everything in our power to create a 21st century free of nuclear weapons, free of terrorism, free of war and all forms of violence.
April 26, 2002
Hiroshima-Nagasaki Emergency Peace Mission
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