By Edwin Cooney
Rarely do I agree with most traditionalist, conservative or reactionary oriented people. However, like most of the above socio/political types, I was glad that President Obama avoided offering an apology to the victims of Hiroshima or Nagasaki during his recent visit to Japan.
Where I differ from my conservative or reactionary brethren is that they seem to dismiss many of the social injustices of the past as insignificant because after all, as they see it, they have too much invested in the future to worry about the insensitivities of their ancestors. I, on the other hand, am convinced that until we thoroughly understand and acknowledge what forces molded the reactions and attitudes of our ancestors as they coped with the conditions and the challenges of their day, we’re not likely to improve our behavior when faced with the same obstacles that were handled less than nobly by our parents and grandparents. Thus, if we’re to avoid a situation such as that which faced President Harry Truman in 1945, it’s essential that we have a realistic sense of what brought about the conditions which forced Mr. Truman to drop a nuclear device on our then Japanese enemy twice in three days - Monday, August 6th, and Thursday, August 9th, 1945.
As important as it is to realistically assess the past, to apologize for it is quite another matter.
In order for an apology to be effective, the apology has to be realistic as well as genuine. The fact of the matter is that most Americans who were responsible in any way for dropping “Little Boy” on August 6th, and “Fat Boy” on August 9th have been dead for many years. President Truman, who ultimately ordered that the atomic bombs be dropped, has been gone since December 26th of 1972. Then Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson have been gone even longer. The point is that the power of apologies is personal rather than socio or political.
Back in the late 1980s, the House and Senate approved an appropriation of $20,000 in compensation for each still-living Japanese American who was interned during World War II. Along with the appropriation, an apology was issued. The appropriation was certainly valid as it was payable to those who had directly suffered the injustices of confiscation and internment. It’s my guess however that the compensation was likely more meaningful to Japanese Americans than a mere apology could possibly be. After all, compensation empowered these families to enhance their current and future well-being.
An apology is powerful when it heals the wounds of a deed and through acknowledgment of a wrong promises that the ill deed will not reoccur. Such acknowledgment and reassurance even nurtures, but when and only when it is offered by the individual or group that committed the offense.
At the time the Senate debated the compensation/apology, some conservatives asserted that they’d only vote for the measure being considered if the Japanese agreed to apologize and compensate the families of those killed and injured by the Sunday, December 7th, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Fortunately, such a quid pro quo was ignored by both the Reagan administration and by the rest of the congress. After all, a conditioned apology is hardly an apology at all.
There are those who insist that America, “white America” in particular, find a way to both apologize and make reparations to blacks for slavery and Native Americans for the injuries we’ve inflicted on them since 1619 in Jamestown, Virginia or since 1620 in Plymouth, Massachusetts. Of course, a lot of those folks who make suggestions like that are usually the descendants of the sinned against and really and truly could use the money that would make such apologies worthwhile reading, listening to and storing in their personal bank accounts or portfolios. Such an “apology” wouldn’t be an apology, it would be a tax and “by God any politician who would even consider such a tax would suffer the severest reprimand since God almighty turned Lucifer into a snake.” (Note: it’s amazing to imagine the double-edged deed God did to Lucifer. He made him a snake, but at the same time He granted him one hell-of-a fiefdom to run! But I’m rambling!)
It’s eternally to our benefit to re-examine or reassess our past, but contrary to what many people have been conditioned to believe, history has never taught lessons - it is only a domain for keeping score.
No, President Harry Truman nor anyone else, not even “white America” owes Japan or humanity itself an apology for dropping two atomic bombs during that August some seventy-one summers ago; although it may be damned sorry if Japan takes Donald Trump seriously and substitutes its own nuclear program for the one we’re paying for and controlling right now!
After all, there’s a very sharp distinction between having to be apologetic and “damned sorry!”
Which would you choose?
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
No comments:
Post a Comment