Comments on: Birthday Boy http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/2008/08/06/birthday-boy/ Living Planet Mystery Tales Fri, 9 Jan 2009 23:44:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: frank powell http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/2008/08/06/birthday-boy/comment-page-1/#comment-1563 frank powell Wed, 06 Aug 2008 21:45:24 +0000 http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/?p=570#comment-1563 MR.Webb, I couldn't agree more! Frank MR.Webb,

I couldn’t agree more!

Frank

]]> By: K.J. Webb http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/2008/08/06/birthday-boy/comment-page-1/#comment-1562 K.J. Webb Wed, 06 Aug 2008 18:51:59 +0000 http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/?p=570#comment-1562 Something awful entered the world with the destruction of those two little cities. But history is full of ironies and unintended consequences. The sheer horror not only kept the bomb from being used thereafter, but probably deterred conventional wars between the large powers which would have produced horrors of even greater magnitude. Maybe the existence of the bomb saved us from ourselves. And if it hadn't been used in 1945, how much longer would the war have lasted and how many more lives would it have consumed? That was the consideration that persuaded Truman, of course. He said he never lost sleep over what he had done. We could make a distinction between the deaths of civilians and the deaths of soldiers - we could say that men have always lost their lives in battle and that the deaths of civilians of all ages and genders can't be compared to the deaths of soldiers. That's easy to feel in the abstract, but dubiously moral. Some of us had fathers in the Pacific Theater who wouldn't have come home but for Truman's decision. The same could be said of countless thousands of Japanese soldiers, many of them no more than boys. For me it's essentially a tragedy without a meaning or a villain. Something awful entered the world with the destruction of those two little cities. But history is full of ironies and unintended consequences. The sheer horror not only kept the bomb from being used thereafter, but probably deterred conventional wars between the large powers which would have produced horrors of even greater magnitude. Maybe the existence of the bomb saved us from ourselves.

And if it hadn’t been used in 1945, how much longer would the war have lasted and how many more lives would it have consumed? That was the consideration that persuaded Truman, of course. He said he never lost sleep over what he had done.

We could make a distinction between the deaths of civilians and the deaths of soldiers - we could say that men have always lost their lives in battle and that the deaths of civilians of all ages and genders can’t be compared to the deaths of soldiers. That’s easy to feel in the abstract, but dubiously moral. Some of us had fathers in the Pacific Theater who wouldn’t have come home but for Truman’s decision. The same could be said of countless thousands of Japanese soldiers, many of them no more than boys.

For me it’s essentially a tragedy without a meaning or a villain.

]]> By: frank powell http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/2008/08/06/birthday-boy/comment-page-1/#comment-1560 frank powell Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:26:02 +0000 http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/?p=570#comment-1560 My day is the 7th, but at this age I don't bring it up to often. After I read John Hersey's book "Day Of Infamy" about the bombing of Hiroshima and seeing the pictures of the people that lived through that, I no longer made much noise about my birthday! I was born a few years later,1948, but still too close. That book had a strong effect on me back in 1963 when I read it. I am still a "Leo' in every way!. Happy Birthday all. My day is the 7th, but at this age I don’t bring it up to often.
After I read John Hersey’s book “Day Of Infamy” about the bombing of Hiroshima and seeing the pictures of the people that
lived through that, I no longer made much noise about my birthday! I was born a few years later,1948, but still too close.
That book had a strong effect on me back in 1963 when I read it.
I am still a “Leo’ in every way!.
Happy Birthday all.

]]> By: John H. Farr http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/2008/08/06/birthday-boy/comment-page-1/#comment-1559 John H. Farr Wed, 06 Aug 2008 15:41:06 +0000 http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/?p=570#comment-1559 Hi Katy! Yeah, ain't it sumpin'. I don't seem to have a similar constellation of Leo friends here in Taos. Kinda weird! I miss all you guys, and I especially miss us all having a party together. Happy Birthday to you too! Hi Katy!

Yeah, ain’t it sumpin’. I don’t seem to have a similar constellation of Leo friends here in Taos. Kinda weird! I miss all you guys, and I especially miss us all having a party together. Happy Birthday to you too!

]]> By: Schro http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/2008/08/06/birthday-boy/comment-page-1/#comment-1558 Schro Wed, 06 Aug 2008 11:55:03 +0000 http://jhfarr.com/farrfeed/?p=570#comment-1558 Happy Birthday, Juan!! And Kate, and Kent, and Jeff and Joe and McBride and Obama and all the other gazillion Leos in our small world. Happy Birthday, Juan!! And Kate, and Kent, and Jeff and Joe and McBride and Obama and all the other gazillion Leos in our small world.

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