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Editorial: Cause for peace

This Saturday, August 6 marks the 66th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb by the United States on the city of Hiroshima in Japan, 1945. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki.

This Saturday, August 6 marks the 66th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb by the United States on the city of Hiroshima in Japan, 1945. Three days later, on August 9, 1945, a second bomb was dropped on the city of Nagasaki. The two bombings killed between 150,000 and 246,000 people, half during the explosions, the other half in coming months due to exposure to radiation.

The anniversary is a recognition of the last time a nuclear bomb was used in war. While we have not seen nuclear war since World War II that does not mean we have not seen war. Every day hundreds to thousands of people die in conflicts around the world. World peace is perhaps as foreign a concept today is it was during World War II, only instead of the large scale wars with millions of casualties we have multiple smaller skirmishes that quickly add up.

Remembering the horrors of past conflicts is important as a reminder of the consequences of war. Canada just ended its role in Afghanistan where it lost 157 soldiers over nearly a decade of involvement in the conflict. The United States pulled the majority of combat troops out of Iraq last year after seven years of fighting and nearly 4,500 soldiers killed in battle. Wars in Africa and the Middle East are being fought at this moment. War, in ways both distant and near to our lives, still rages.

It’s hard to know what can be done. We can remember. We can learn. We can call for the end of war but most likely war will always be here. We have taken large steps since World War II to rid the world of mass-scale conflicts. We have the United Nations and other organizations that bring nations together and try to maintain balance. The system may not be perfect but it may also be helping to prevent even more conflicts than we see today. We’re trying but of course more could be done.

So if you go to Willingdon Beach this Saturday from 6 to 9 pm to make a peace lantern and cast it out to sea, think of all the innocent people who died in the attacks on Japan. Think of all the innocent people who still die in conflicts every day. Think of what can be done and how you can help do it. And be thankful that war is not an aspect of our daily lives here.