Litany of Remembrance for the Nuclear Age - July 16, 2000

In the year 2000, the people of the earth remember the beginning of the Nuclear Age on July 16, 1945.

We remember each child born since the dawn of the Nuclear Age, the miracle and sacredness of each living being.

We remember the image of the first mushroom cloud of the Trinity atomic test, rising above the earth near Alamogordo, New Mexico.

We remember the words of Robert Oppenheimer, director of the Manhattan Project, "I am become Death, the Shatterer of Worlds."

We remember "Little Boy," and "Fat Man," the atomic bombs that destroyed the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945.

Today, we remember the terrible destructive power and violence latent within us, and made manifest in the bomb. We look into our hearts and draw from the deep wells of beauty, creativity, and humanity's spiritual traditions, to nurture a culture of peace and health.

We remember the visionaries who have come before us, calling us to our best selves. We give thanks for their witness and their commitment to life.

We remember the cost to all life of our commitment to death.

We remember the Indigenous peoples of the Earth, on whose lands we mine for uranium, test our nuclear weapons, and fill with our nuclear waste.

We remember the Hibakusha, the Downwinders, the Atomic Veterans, the children of Chernobyl and Three Mile Island, knowing that in a global community, we are all Hibakusha, we are all Downwinders.

We remember the deserts of New Mexico, Nevada, Lop Nor, Maralinga, Algeria, Rajasthan, and Kazakhstan, where the atomic violence creates deserts in our hearts and souls.

We remember the islands of Bikini, Christmas, Eniwetok, Fangataufa, Johnston, Monte Bello, Moruroa, and Novaya Zemlya, where the atomic destruction makes us islands unto ourselves.

We remember the plants and animals of the earth, whose waters, soil, and air, we contaminate in the name of "national security."

We remember our children and grandchildren and all beings of the future, and ask their forgiveness for the radioactive legacy we leave to them.

Today, we remember our nuclear history so that we will not repeat it.

Written by Pamela Meidell, Co-organizer of the Trinity Vigil.
Copyright 2000 by the Atomic Mirror. Permission to use or reprint is freely granted.

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