Living, Dying, Surviving

Some concerned folks called my father today to ask him to check on his neighbor. The fact that the neighbor hadn’t put out his trash or let the dogs out was unusual.

Dad looked through the window and saw that the neighbor had died.

His passing was not unexpected, though Dad is sad nevertheless.

He was clear that this was not like the passing of his friend Mike a few years ago. That one devastated Dad. But Dad had always enjoyed his time with the neighbor, and will miss him.

***

Wolfboy was looking at a CD of mine tonight as we drove to the daycare to pick up THEGIRL. It’s the new Roger Joseph Manning, Jr.

He told me he wanted to hear the song “Survival Machine.”

I cued it up, then took a moment to explain to him that the song, as far as I can tell, is about forgiving Robert Oppenheimer. I went on to tell him what I could about the atomic bomb, and its terrible toll in Japan.

I explained that it’s the most powerful weapon ever used, and that the events of August, 1945 were so catastrophic that even though we have more powerful weapons today, we don’t use them.

The tears streamed down his face as he asked if the bombs had only killed soldiers, or if they’d killed families. He kept asking why we’d do something like that. I said that the USA felt like Japan did not intend to surrender, and that a demonstration of this nation’s ability to devastate them was the only way to force them to do so. He asked me why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, and I told him what I could.

I also explained that, just like when he and his sister fight, there are two sides to every story, and that the Japanese certainly have their perspective on these events. I told him that one of my favorite people in the world is half-Japanese, and that those events had affected her family profoundly.

And as my boy sat there in the car, not caring in the least about the quarrels between nations, we hugged and cried about the people caught in the middle.

***

The lyrics:

“Survival Machine”

Oppenheimer’s refugees
The greatest minds that science could convene
Welcome home, hail to the chief
He swears his ends will justify your means

Now all you men of great renown
I need your smarts so gather ‘round
Right or wrong it’s our destiny

All I ask is that you try
You’d be saving so many lives
Go forth now invent our vaccine

Survival machine

Trinity in ‘45
The sum of all our fears now quite alive
So in the east a fireworks show
Just to prove at last that God does in fact take sides

A voice cheers through the telephone,
“Now I can bring our boys back home”
You just might have stopped World War Three

But this intellect can’t reconcile
How could our gifts become so vile
Come home lads you’ve set us all free

Bless survival machine

Late one lonely night my soul was given up to flight
A chance to see what happens when love gives way to self defense

Now don’t you worry
You are forgiven now

Come child take my hand
I’ll walk you through our ravaged land
You’ll breathe that fire into your lungs
And feel the heat of a thousand suns

Now don’t be sorry
You are forgiven now

Brothers, sisters pity me
I lost all sense of family
Was blinded by the victory signs
A hero’s welcome in my mind

We know you’re sorry
You are forgiven now