Peace

Part Two
Day 17 ~ 12,970 Miles

I had to step away from the group today as I tried to choke back the tears while standing in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. I can’t find the appropriate words to adequately share the day and can only share a few pictures.

The accompanying video is from inside the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall For The Atomic Bomb Victims. I descended alone, counterclockwise, down a sloped ramp which represented going back in time and I arrived in a massive chamber on which the walls were tiled with approximately 140,000 mosaic tiles (number of bombing victims) in a panoramic depiction of the bombing site. The center of the chamber is anchored by a fountain which signifies the bombing victim’s thirst and if you look carefully at the top of the fountain you will see a clock face stopped at 8:15, the time that the bomb detonated.

I don’t fully understand how or why I came to be alone for so long in this place and in this moment accompanied only by the sound of the flowing water.Read more