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Commitment to Peace, delivered on August 6, 2013

“Even now, I clearly remember the scenes I saw while running away.”
I was surprised and frightened at the words of my grandmother, who was three years old at the time.
“Until that day, I had believed that every time a family member left the house with the words ‘I’m going out’, they would return with the words ‘I’m back’. But they did not return.”
When I heard this, tears began to fall, and I could not stop shaking.

Sixty-eight years ago on this day, our city Hiroshima was destroyed by an atomic bomb. Not only our bodies bore wounds; the pain penetrated to our hearts, which for many people, ache without end.

Now, we are living in the same city, Hiroshima.
The people of our city have lived through the atomic bombing, passing on the baton of life.
Along with life, there is something else we want to pass on...
That is why we cannot turn our eyes away from that day.
We want to know more. The reality of the atomic bombing, the thoughts of the hibakusha.
We want to spread these, further and further. To the people of the world, to the future.

Peace is being able to live with peace of mind.
Peace is each and every person shining.
Peace is everyone feeling happiness.

Peace is something we ourselves create.
For this reason,We convey our gratitude to the people close to us, our friends and family.
Through dialogues with many people, we learn that there are many different ways of thinking.
Through sports, music, and the things we are good at, we interact with the people of the world.
It doesn’t matter if the methods are different.
What is important are the actions of each and every one of us.
So, let us create peace together.
So that this precious baton may be passed on.

Children’s Representatives
Shunji Takeuchi (6th grade, Hiroshima City Yoshijima-higashi Elementary School)
Yuzu Nakamori (6th grade, Hiroshima City Kuchita Elementary School)

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