I COULD NOT FORGIVE

by Kiyoko Tanimoto

An eye witness account of the Hiroshima atomic bomb

I lay there buried alive under our house when the bomb hit our city. The bomb started great fires. The fires came nearer and nearer to us as workers tried to reach us. "Hurry!" they cried to one another as the flames came nearer. At last the workers reached us and pulled me and my mother out from under everything, before the flames reached us.

Now later, as I thought of the pilot of the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on our city, I cried, "I hate him. I hate him." The people with marked faces from the effects of the bomb made me cry, "I hate him." I saw people suffering a terrible, slow death. Again and again I cried, as I saw these people, "I hate that pilot, I hate him!"

I HATED HIM

Now some time later I was in USA and that pilot appeared in a meeting I attended. As I looked at him, I hated him with a bitter hatred.

But then I listened to what he told us of his experience the day when he dropped the bomb on our city. I heard him say, "When I flew over the city after we dropped the bomb, I cried, 'O God, what have I done'." I realised he found it difficult to speak of that day. He could hardly speak for tears. 

As this happened I suddenly realised my hatred of him was wrong. It only made me unhappy also. As I did this, it was as if a heavy load fell off my shoulders. I cried, "God, help me to forgive him. Please God, forgive my wrong feelings towards him. Please give me Your Spirit to control my thoughts."

I also told God, "I am sorry for all my wrong thoughts." I believe Jesus Christ died for my sin. As I did this my life was changed. I now help people that suffer from hating other people. I seek to help them to love everyone, as I am now able to do. 

This Story is available as: http://www.soon.org.uk/audiofile/bomb2.wav