WWII ended this month 68 years ago
But I still see the houses burning in an air raid on one night
The fire was as close to about 100 meters to our own house
Our family decided we had to evacuate the house
“Go on living is more important than anything else”
Such words I heard being exchanged
Between my mother and father
Who were closely looking at each other
“I’ll stay here and will do as much as possible
To save this house,” my father told my mother
She silently nodded in reply
They knew it could be their last moment to look at each other
Bearing my little sister on her back
My mother tied one end of a rope around her waist
She gave me the other end of the rope for me and my brother to grab
“Hang on to it, don’t you ever let it go,” she said
In the darkness and the crowd of the people on the street
We might be lost unless we held on tightly to the rope
The people moving moving toward where they thought it would be safer
They were carrying as big loads of things as they could
Down the road I saw in the light of the burning houses
Apparently the bodied of people lying down
I thought of dead people and cried from scare
I had some friends to play with in the neighborhood down there
Guns roared and something must have been hit in the dark sky
It must be a fighter plane that was going down
Some people in the crowd stopped walking
They bowed their heads in prayer
It didn’t matter if it was an enemy pilot
Who was going down unmistakably to his death
All the same
What was happening up there was terribly wrong
The scene has kept recurring on my mind for the past decades
“Utter stupidity.” I came to think of wars as sheer stupidity
And the stupidity has been repeated without ceasing
In some parts of the world
The stupidity is likely to be repeated in the future
Because it’s stupidity
The human stupidity is infinite
As is the universe, said Albert Einstein
But there is a simple way to stop it
Guns never fire by themselves
They have to be triggered by some people
If they stopped pulling the triggers, then peace prevails
They are ordered to pull the trigger
But they have all the right to disobey such an order
Disobey the order so all the people on Earth
Can lead a happy life as they were born and entitled to enjoy
Disobey the order
To bring peace to the entire world
“Unite!”
Charlie Chaplin called on the soldiers in his The Great Dictator
AshiAkira's Blog 
Your story is both visual as in I could see like a film your family n the people having to leave your homes because of the war I could feel the fear of the unknown terror you could hear and see and it is disgusting that anyone has to experience such horror and such loss. I am so sorry Aki that you and your family had to live through such terror. Governments those in the Power to change should be listening to People such as yourself and learning from this that Yes War is no answer it has been repeatedly a failure all through times of life . I am so honoured you have shared this history of your life and your family with me and all who will read this on line ThankYou Aki from the heart of the beez 🙂 . OH and ABsolutely Beez Agrees Unite N Refuse the stupidity of wars We have become the Sheep we all ditch titch about in life & are made fearful of our Governments with all there terror laws which aid the warmongers and the suspicions and racism in people .These people whom are actually elected to be our careGivers not care takers of life as in taking away lives should not be in office … if we cant have intelligent sensible creative people governing us and using resolutions with the world other than killing people wars We don’t need this kind of thinking process any more it has failed humanity. There are other ways to make monies other than war which i feel is a Big incentive to power n control .! this is the lazy easy way out for psychopathic minded individuals whom are making our laws and enticing wars; Unite refuse the to join armies navies airforce of wars. Unite refuse to vote if politicians are warmongers. Simple People should not be made fearful to stand for life not war.
I can only say I’m exceedingly glad you spotted this story and grateful for the comment you gave.
What a great description regarding the human costs of war through the eyes of a child. And the question you pose, What if they gave a war and nobody came?” rings as true today as it did throughout the thousands of years men everywhere have marched off to war. I’m not sure if this will ever happen because so long as the emotions and prejudices of men an be stoked by the powers that be(who never risk their lives) there will be war and there will be casualties and of course tears. Insanity
Thank you for reading this story and making such a nice comment. You are right “the powers” never risk their lives in trying to get what they want through wars. I wish they would know they are choking their own necks by leading people to wars and what wonderful things that can be achieved in peace.
Amen…your spirit and your words truly uplifting
That’s a heavy memory for a child to carry and passed on to us in such simple words. I fear your dream is a long way off (though the Internet brings it a little closer). People will carry fear and consequently guns and then pull triggers until the barriers between tribes, nationalities and religions fall and it becomes possible to trust everyone else. You are right though, we have to do more than just wish for this.
A month or so after that experience, I was separated from my parents to evacuate the city that the authorities apparently thought was destined to be destroyed by the allies’ attack. Some of us kids were sent to the mountainous area in northeastern Japan where we might survive the final stage of the war and the “sacred race” would not become extinct from the earth. What I found in the rural area was nothing but hunger. I remember chasing frogs in around a pond and hunting for hives to pull out larvae from them, all for eating. I knew by instinct of a child that that was how I could live on. The larvae could be eaten right away after I could find them without any cooking, and they were so sweet as they slid down my throat. Oh, please don’t give me that look! I’m only telling you the truth about how I could grow up to what I’m today. I was lucky I was then too young to be trained as another suicide pilot. But, after the war, I went to the US for study and making friend with Americans, instead of killing them.
That’s a very long journey you have made from the terrors of being bombed, separated and starved in childhood to making friends with individuals from the nation responsible for these deprivations. This is something I admire profoundly. My father was fortunate to have been born in Malaya and to have met Malays, Chinese, Japanese and Indian men and women as a small child, so when he became prisoner of the Japanese and worked on the Thailand-Burma railway, he didn’t make the mistake of assuming that individual guards (Japanese or Korean) represented a whole nation. Sadly many others did, and every time I hear of a new conflict I think of the next generation learning to hate a group of people.
I have no problem with the idea of eating grubs. When we were small, my father would fish anything he could find out of the sea, and my mother would cook it on a camping fire.
Wonderful story! A great message for everyone to follow: “Don’t pull that trigger.”
May Peace, Love, and Happiness be with you, Ashi.
Thank you. And tank you also for reading my “About”. I really appreciate it.
In some ways, this reminds me of Grave of the Fireflies (火垂るの墓). Thinking of that movie, and now your story here, bring an unstoppable tear to my eye.
m(_ _)m
AB
Thank you for reading the story poem. I was lucky I could survive the war. There are so many children who can’t survive wars that are still going on on the globe today.
Your account makes my heart ache for the child you were. How terrifying an experience to endure and you write about it in a way that I feel I am in the crowded throng of humanity trying to escape the great evil snapping at your heals. War is monstrous, nothing good comes from it but many people and families are destroyed. I am so very sorry you and your family had to endure this, for I know even after 68 years you can picture it as if it were yesterday. The sights, sounds, smells all rush back to you as if you stepped out of time somehow. What a horrible burden for you to bear, carrying these dark memories. Peace to your spirit and a prayer for abundant blessings upon you.
Tina
Thank you for reading my poems and making such a kind comment. I deeply feel honored.
I can clearly feel the horror and anguish you experience, even today. Very well written. Let us hope leaders don’t make the same mistakes again.
Thank you for reading the story and the kind comment.