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I must never forget
my two grandparents and their unnecessary suffering.
Their story provides lessons for us all.
Their brutally inhuman treatment in time of war
is a fragment
of a vast, well-documented catalog of crimes against humanity.
Reports from and about Japan today
show that whatever the Japanese People believe, their Government, on their behalf,
refuses to show any sincere remorse or contrition
and continues to suppress & deny their wartime record of atrocities.
The danger is summed up in the old expression :
“A nation that forgets its history is condemned to repeat it”
The Japanese Government’s reasoning
for concealing and suppressing the truth about their wartime record
seems to rest upon the great injury done to the Japanese People
by the first and only use of atomic weapons in August 1945
against the civilian populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
However, two wrongs do not make a right.
In Britain, the Far East Prisoners of War, and now their families also, still wait in vain
for a proper recognition from the Government of Japan of past wrongs.
Financial compensation is sought also
but more as a token and test of sincerity than for its monetary value.
Until the truth has been openly acknowledged,
there can be no hope of justice nor hence reconciliation ;
nor real hope for the future.
The events recorded faithfully here
justify the perpetual need
to distinguish good people from evil
worldwide.
In another old expression :
“Evil men prosper whilst good men stand by and do nothing”
The risk for all humanity is that by
allowing guilt to be concealed, evil men are encouraged.
I see yet no reason to forgive.
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