The Course of History

I am writing these words on the occasion of the seventy-fifth anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.  This was the first use of nuclear weapons as an instrument of war.  An American bomber, the Enola Gay, dropped it's ordinance on the city.  Three days later the Japanese city of Nagasaki was also bombed with an atomic weapon. 

The bombing of Hiroshima killed an estimated 66,000 people and another 39,000 were killed in Nagasaki. This of course does not take into account those who in subsequent years may have died prematurely due to the lingering effects of the radiation that resulted in increased rates of cancer and other disorders.

Conventional wisdom has taught over the years that the bombings, as tragic as they were, may have saved lives.  An invasion of the Japanese homeland by America and her allies would have resulted in casualties far greater than the the casualties of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.  It is indisputable that the Japanese surrendered within ten days of the first bombing. Thus, it has traditionally been assumed that as tragic as the use of these weapons were they, in the end, brought about less suffering.

Some historians have not been convinced this is the case.  Some feel that the Japanese were close to surrender without the bombings.  Others state that perhaps the bombings not only were intended to bring down the Japanese but also to warn the Soviet Union of the capabilities of the American military.  There has also been debate over the ethical and moral implications of the use of these weapons.

Such a debate can go on in infinity.  Here is what I know.  There was a naval petty officer from Cordele, Georgia on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theater of World War II.  He was a flight mechanic.  The war ended without him being killed.  Had the war lasted longer he might have met his demise. 

Instead the young sailor came home and married a telephone operator with Southern Bell whose family had moved to Macon from Vienna.  They met on a bus as the sailor made his way home and the operator was going to visit some family. 

After the war was over, the couple had a daughter in 1947.  A number of years later the same couple had a son.  That son, as I am sure as been surmised,  was me.

This bit of biography lies at the root of  my reflection on the events of seventy-five years ago.  Had the atomic bombs not fallen on Hiroshima and Nagasaki I might not have been born.  It is a sobering thought to consider that if something as horrendous as those bombings not happened, I would not have had a life.

Ultimately we cannot escape history in ways large and small.  I have always had an appreciation for the movie "Forest Gump."  The basic thesis of the movie is that this small town Alabama man interacted with many of the monumental moments of twentieth century American History.  At times history changed Gump's life and at times Gump changed history.

We are all products of the era in which we live.  Many times we are swept up in the current of history but there are also times that we can in some subtle way, have and effect on the course of history.  Rosa Parks probably had no idea what impact she would have when she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery.  Frank Wills had no idea that he would bring down a President when he called the police to the Watergate Hotel.

I once had a parishioner that would say, "everything happens for a reason."  That parishioner meant that God caused everything that happened to us to accomplish some greater purpose.  I don't believe that.  I don't believe that the murder of 6,000,000 Jews during the Holocaust was a part of God's greater purpose.  I don't believe that God allowed 100,000 Japanese to die in a nuclear blast so that I could be born.  God is at work in all things but God does not cause all things.

That said, my parishioner was right in a less metaphysical way in saying that everything happen for a reason.  Nothing in life happens without a cause.  The roots of today are planted in the soil of our past.  The fruit of our future is nurtured in the incubator of the present.  There are times that circumstances dictate our lives but there are also times we can dictate our circumstances.

As we continue dealing with COVID-19 and the ensuing pandemic, we find this to be true.  None of us asked for COVID-19.  None of us asked to be a part of this pandemic.  In spite of what some wish to believe it is not some sinister plot.  Viruses happen.

Yet, we have a choice as to how we will deal with the virus.  Will we keep ourselves healthy?  Will we take precautions to reduce our chance of infection?  Will we show courtesy and respect and do the things necessary to care for those around us?  Some questions are not left to us but some are.  How we answer those questions might even change the course of history.