Mens Sana Foundation

On Dropping the Atomic Bomb

here’s an old Indian saying that you cannot know a man unless you walk a mile in his moccasins. Which means two things:

1. It’s nonsense to claim that if you were Charlie, you wouldn’t do what Charlie does. But that you would do something else.

2. It’s also nonsense to claim that you know what you would do under a set of circumstances that you are not now experiencing or feeling.

And that brings up the question of whether or not we should have dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Let me see if I can take you back 50+ years. If you were alive at the time, maybe you’ll re-feel what you felt then. If you hadn’t been born yet, there’s no way you could ever know what it was like. You see, you weren’t wearing our moccasins. But nevertheless, try to feel what we were feeling.

Virtually every American family had at least one member in military service. Generally a son, daughter, father, or husband. There were many families who had one member killed in action. Some families had several members perish in the service of their country. Many families had someone blinded, paralyzed, or crippled for life. There were families who had someone missing in action never to return home. There were families with a son, daughter, father, or husband who was being mistreated as a prisoner of war. In short, there was hardly a house or apartment in the country where tears, heartache, anguish, and despair had not taken up residence.

And there was no end in sight.

Now, given all that, take off your shoes, slip into our moccasins, and tell me what you would have done at the time — drop the bombs and end the war? Or not drop the bombs and continue the war?

Think about it.