We are creeping up (or blowing past) on July 16th, the seventy third anniversary of the Trinity nuclear bomb testing. This is the same test that inspired the beautiful recitation of the Bhagavad Gita “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” One can only imagine the lament that Doctor Oppenheimer must have felt when he saw the devastation unleashed through his work. His sobering fear of that destructive force should have been a warning to the future. A warning that went unheeded. And that stark realization leads me to what we all should really talk about. How can we do better?
Perhaps some more background is needed. The United States dropped a similar device as the Trinity bomb on Nagasaki, that device was named Fat Man. And while this isn’t the place to argue over that ethical mess, it is safe to say that such a massive show of force ended World War 2’s Pacific front. We did it, we made the largest most destructive weapon and we showed our might with it. So it ends there right? World peace?
Enter the arms race. The United States would continue to test and redesign our nuclear weapons while the Soviets who were thought to be massively behind this technological curve were able to secure a uranium supply and build a viable weapon by 1949. Over the next several decades the US and Russia built 21,000 nuclear warheads, and a combined mega tonnage of over 12,300 MT. Why? Because we could, and that is a sign of a mindset that need not be in power anymore.
I hope that this July 16th is a reminder to everyone that the old ways of viewing the world have lead us to decades of terror and fear. When it comes time to vote in November remember that you need a voice in Washington D.C. The next generation needs a representative who will stand up to the branch that threats “fire and fury.” We need leaders that don’t flaunt being “locked and loaded.” And finally with the threat of Nuclear arms reaching new shores, I would prefer that our leadership doesn't call foreign dictators “a maniac” in 2016 then stated that he “developed a very special bond” with said maniac in 2018.
