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deathbybroccoli — APH: Forgive
Published: 2010-08-08 08:25:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 33463; Favourites: 1134; Downloads: 407
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"We cannot change the past, but we can change our attitude toward it. Uproot guilt and plant forgiveness. Tear out arrogance and seed humility. Exchange love for hate --- thereby, making the present comfortable and the future promising."EDIT: Sorry if I dont reply to you all..I'm too tired to now. But thank you for leaving comments; I do read them to get an idea of everyone's opinions on this matter~
This was mainly to do with a conversation a friend on LJ had posted...in regards to the Hiroshima bombing memorial day.
On several sites, there were many comments made about the bombing about how the Japanese "deserved" it, (and that bombing Hiroshima to end WWII was "one of the greatest humanitarian acts in human history.”)
Instead of rant forever, I'll just quote this comment, which pretty much states my opinion towards this kind of attitude/statement:
“How do heinous acts by Japanese soldiers (most of whom were forced into military service through drafts, and would be killed if they did not follow orders) compare to bombing and killing 200,000 civilians whose families had already been torn apart by, abused by, and were terrified of their own government?..... But I guess that is the bright side of being a victor in a war....you can focus on your defeated enemy's atrocities, while ignoring or justifying your own....” #please see note at bottom of page
After reading all those comments...I asked my brother,
"Do you think peace is possible?"
He very bluntly replied "No, because people will never change their thinking"
Well to me, if we don't try to change it, how will we know? I really hope that one day we will be able to obtain World Peace. The first step - hard, yes, but not impossible - is forgiveness. This "blaming game" needs to stop...
*"Forgiveness does not equal forgetting. It is about healing the memory of the harm, not erasing it."
* "It takes courage and commitment to act in a more forgiving fashion. It is not at all a sign of weakness but a mark of strength."
* "Let us forgive each other - only then will we live in peace”
* "...in a very real sense, without forgiveness, there is no future."
(by the way, Kiku was trying to paint over it himself (by precisely writing over all the words to cover them), then Alfred came along to help (and decided just to paint over the whole thing xD)...Together they're trying to clear the wall o3o~)
INSANELY LONG EDIT
EDIT 1 Ahh because it's not entirely clear, I have to say this now: I'm not trying to state who is wrong/who was wrong, and who's right in terms of the war, the bombings, or whether the bombings were necessary or not. Not the point of this picture, sorrry if you got that impression. that's not, nor will it ever be my intention - I'm not here to argue about the past actions of any country.
((long justification/explaining my point of view below, you dont need to read it unless you want to know what I mean. xDD))
my anger comes from the comments on news sites that were about the Hiroshima memorial day...Not at a country, just a particular attitude.
What I'm trying to get at...what I personally feel the problem in this situation is this:
when the Japanese are mourning the death of innocent people, there are people with the attitude 'they deserved it' - this is the kind of attitude I really...dislike. On a day of mourning, is it right to point fingers at people, and blame them or try justify your own actions by comparing them to theirs? that kind of thinking is cruel, it's wrong, I believe it needs to change. the attitude behind that thinking is what I believe drags people back - leaves them clinging to the past, hate, etc. The memorial day for bombing of Hiroshima is to remember and honour the innocent people who died. It's not a "America was horrible" or "Japan deserved it" moment. I feel it really serves as a reminder to us who the true enemy is: and to quote a US soldier who had made a statement to a japanese civilian... "You are not my enemy - war is."
Both sides committed atrocities. The Japanese definitely did. As did America. I'm not denying any of those facts at all. I'm not blaming America, I'm not blaming Japan. This blaming game, whether against each other or against ourselves doesnt help anyone. People can spend too long trying to blame the other - and this is one thing (that I feel) that prevents us all from working together, from striving to make changes for the better.
what Im hoping is that the anger, resentment, hatred towards each other will stop - and the only way I can see this happening is if people forgive (I mean everyone. Both sides. not referring to one...), I'm hoping attitudes like this will change so we can work together and prevent something like this from ever happening ever again, to prevent history from repeating itself...
of course, this picture is just my own opinion - i'm only wanting to make people think a bit, I'm not here to force it on others (copy-pasta'd from a comment I made, because Im too tired to repeat myself. xDD sorry)
EDIT 2: re:# note
this comment was made by someone (an American I think) when the "their loss was nothing compared to ours" kind of statement came into play at some point...So my point is this: it is cruel to say that people "deserved to die", and try to overlook the fact that innocent lives were lost from this act...Comparing whose actions were "more horrific" does not somehow justify that the loss of these lives 'is nothing to mourn about', or the deaths of these people should not be honoured (which is what a few of the comments were getting at). I apologise greatly for not providing the context to which the top quote was in; so it makes it sound like I was trying to shift the blame. I cant emphasise this enough - it is not my intention to do so...
and if it's of any relevance - (judging from a few comments, I have a feeling I may sound like I'm writing from the perspective of a Japanese person) I grew up in New Zealand (kiwi for life!); my parents are Taiwanese; my late Grandfather was Chinese(by descent)-Taiwanese, and always held a grudge towards the Japanese for what he experienced in WW2...Though I definitely felt hurt every time he looked sorrowful or angry at the recollection of his experiences and suffering, (and honestly, I felt angry myself at some stage) I decided not to let this influence what I should feel towards the Japanese people due to what was inflicted on my grandfather in the past and try to forgive. I am not disregarding my grandfather's suffering - if anything, I am extremely grateful that I am where I am today because of his efforts and his struggles to support his family and survive through crisis. But I want to end the bitterness that has somehow been passed onto the current generation (my father especially; is still somewhat bitter as well...) ...
Once again, I am just one person. I'm not speaking up for any country (as in, I'm not pro-'insert country here'; anti-"insert country here"). Please, if my comments offend you in some manner, I ask that you don't attribute my thoughts/opinion to either of the countries' people: it would seriously break my heart if I knew someone suddenly felt angered towards either country because of what I wrote/ drew. So please, if anything, keep in mind these are the remarks of one person (who usually would not post anything like this because she finds it impossible to word her opinions/thoughts in a coherent fashion).
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Comments: 302
Asian culture doesn't really know what is forgiveness. They only see shame or humilation as a paying tool. Forgiveness is something the church has taught us in Europe and in America, even many don't believe in god anymore, they still believe in forgiveness. This is why China and Korea won't forgive Japan until Japan "humilates" himself (and hopefully don't do some horrifying suicide after that), and Japan actually wouldn't forgive US for the bomb, but the US is able to forgive Japan. It's a cultural problem, and asian like me needs to suck this up and deal with it. Asian people are depressing. Think about what i say.
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the Japanese have learned to forgive and forget that's what makes them a great country.
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Very soon we will realize... Hitler did nothing wrong.
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Some people say it's impossible to forgive. I want to tell this story sometimes, and you can read it in some books or on the internet-
We used to have the Thirty Years war in Germany, as one of many civil wars in our country. Eight million people died. The war took so long and killed so many people that at the end, nearly no one was left to remember the beginning. It wasn't only that, but the war started as a civil war between northern protestant states and southern catholic states of the Holy Roman Empire (Germany was called so during that time). It ended with Germany losing half it's population and being more or less dissolved (not officially, but can you imagine people still living in the same country after all what happened? Cities burnt, some places took more than a century to recover). Germany still has different states (Bavaria, Hesse and so on) but they stopped fighting each other long ago.
Germany was founded new in 1871, after the german states had been united with a war against france. It wasn't the first time they fought france (they had united against Napoleon 1813 for example) and not the last time. France felt humiliated, and the german state was as a result of these so called "uniting wars" very militarstic and...I don't want to discuss every aspect here, but then came World War I. Afterwards, germans felt humiliated. Then came World War II. Germany and France fought three wars in 75 years.
After all that, a french politican suggested a cooperation. That worked. Germany and France are friends since more than 50 years.
Forgiveness should not be taken for granted. It isn't easy to achieve. But not impossible, so stop working for it instead of complaining that humans never change. That's why I told the story. You can laugh about it, not take it seriously, claim that I lied...you can't change the fact that without this peace, I don't think I'd write this now. So...think a moment about the peace we have now, and about what made it possible. I really think some people need more hope.
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Damn right. Random people who weren't even there don't deserve to die for what people who happened to be from the same place they are did.
Leaving out the real-life politics, I always felt that Hetalia's not the place for blaming. It's a very cute and idealistic show, and I like to think the nation-people themselves aren't bad people. Having them participate too enthusiastically in the horrible stuff smacks of blaming the whole country for the actions of a few, though I know that's not the intention. This kind of thing feels more appropriate.
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This. This so much.
I don't believe in holding grudges against entire groups of people for something a relative few did. And I personally believe that what the US did to Japan was far worse--not just the bombs, but imprisoning innocent people for simply being Japanese. And of course, there are those who can't let go of the past and keep blaming people for things that happened long before they were born.
While it's true that the Japanese military did horrible things, you can't blame the entire country for that. And besides, other participants weren't exactly innocent either. I've been told that dropping the bombs was a lesser of two evils, as Hirohito refused to surrender and a full invasion of Japan would cost many more lives. But as a pacifist, I do believe there should have been another way, one that didn't involve destroying cities full of civilians. In the end, it doesn't really matter who started a war; everyone ends up suffering, especially innocents who have nothing to do with it.
So basically, I say let the past stay in the past. People should not be blamed for crimes their ancestors committed. Modern-day Germans had nothing to do with the Holocaust, modern-day Japanese had nothing to do with Pearl Harbor, etc. I hear my father badmouthing the Japanese, and the way he responds to my objections is that what happened to Japan is "tough shit". Again, it's punishing the innocent. None of those civilians deserved such a thing.
Pardon the ranting, but grudges held against entire nations are irrational and I don't understand why people can't just live in harmony with each other. Holding grudges for events decades before will just lead to more conflict and it will be much more difficult for the world to be at peace.
*bows and slinks off*
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Amazing... just the message and... *cries* SO DEEP AND BEAUTIFULL!!
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Not even the mightiest of armies can match the power of forgiveness. Thank you very much for making this. The more we remind people of the value of forgiveness, the closer we get to true peace. Thank you again for your beautiful art and words of wisdom! =]
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I think the message you've put in your picture and the note right there is just right. It's something that many people tend to forget : every nation in the world has, at one point or another of it's history, done something incredibly wrong with no sufficient justification. And when I say EVERY nation, I mean it. It has always been true and it will always be. Nothing is completely white in this world. But nothing is completely black either.
The problem is that when some people suffer, they are too busy caring for their own pain to understand that the one torturing them can also be suffering from something else. That's what usually happens and it's universal. You can see this with long-time enemies countries, rival cities or even bullied children in a playground. The only way to stop this would be to try to understand the other's pain and share your own. But, as I said, it's to difficult for most people to stop seeing the other as the mean one.
Forgiveness is probably the most difficult thing to do, especially with those wars happened only a century ago. But if people can get over this, it will certainly lead to a way more peaceful era. We should stop seeing each other as part of the black history of a country and start looking at each other as we are : part of one huge and complex world that will only change if we have the will to make it better.
Personally, I'm french and I almost cry every time we talk about WWI in history class. Not because of Germany attacking France but because of the french government's methods to blind his own people and send it to death without noticing they're lied to. I think that's the most unforgivable thing that could ever happen to a nation. What we forgot is that, in those wars, the real culprits aren't the soldiers nor the people but the ones that decided of the war first. I don't think a whole nation can just wake up one day and think "Oh, I feel like fighting today! Let's go invade some other place and kill innocent guys just for the fun!", that's just not possible. Even during WWII, in Germany, there were some men to stand against their dictator.
Sorry if for this really long comment and if I wrote something weird. As I said, I'm french, english isn't my birth langage, even if I speak it a lot, and I don't always use the good words to says what I think. Hope it's not to confusing, though.
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The Japanese mourns tor the death of those who had perished in Hiroshima and Nagasaki...But when will they mourn for the death of non-combatant Filipinos and those whom they murdered in Nanking?...Do we just have to forget all what they did?...where is the JUSTICE for all those they have murdered?...Will they continue to deny their actions?
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I know that you made this comment a year ago, but hear me out.
It is true that a lot of people died and some Japanese officials have been denying the accusations, but the point here is to forgive. You don't have to wait for a official declaration of "we did this ____" ; if you know that they did it, they DID it, and it's time to move on and forgive.
And of course, forgiving does not mean forgetting. We will remember these cruel acts and these acts will always be marked in history, but the grudge for these acts must be forgiven and forgotten. That's the point of history. You will remember the cruel acts, so you'd know the horrors it brought upon those that experience it and try to not let these acts happen again in the future, but the grudge for those past actions will be forgotten because they're done and there's no point of committing revenge.
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I don't think they mean't it that way, they are simply aggravated that Japanese war criminals were not punished for their crimes. Nazi war criminals were executed for their crimes against humanity, yet the US allowed Mutsuhiro Watanabe - the most sadistic man next to Joseph Goebbels - walk free. I do not blame Japan as a whole, I do not blame the people of today, but I AM outraged that the criminals were not brought to justice. It is sad, really. I have forgiven Japan for Pearl Harbor and the genocides in Asia, I hated the bomb was dropped, but that does not change that people had to suffer, and their torturers act like nothing happened.
For instance, how would you feel if someone tortured & killed a relative, but was let off free? It is aggravating- but in my mind, I know they will be judged in the afterlife.. and i'm not even religious, but if there is an almighty, those people will/have been met with justice.
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That's not completely true. There has been the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, so some criminals were punished, and some were executed. You may argue that too many still were not brought to justice (and I would agree with you), but there's a problem - some people claim that such Tribunals aren't fair to begin with, because Japan and Germany lost the war, and some people there were tried for war crimes.
There were no comparable trials for anyone from the Allies. The genocides from Japan in Asia were horrible, but many civilians died because of the civil war in China as well. I can't remember anyone from that civil war ever being on trial for his deeds. How would you feel as a Chinese if your friend had his familiy murdered by the japanese people, and these people were brought to justice, and you had your familiy murdered by other Chineses who weren't brought to justice?
It wasn't possible then to bring everyone to justice, sadly. But if they were punished or not - we still can condemn their atrocities. I'm glad my country excused for the atrocities committed during World War II. It's a question of justice, but as well a question of our future. I'm from a Germany that I don't think would exist today as it does, if our relationship to other countries was still determined by mistrust and reproaches.
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I understand what you mean, I was only stating why OP was angered and why most people would be. I never said I agreed with the Chinese going free from their crimes against their own people, I think that is horrible as well - but it's unfortunately something that will not be fixed.
Yes, most people would disagree with those Tribunals because those people would be the ones denying the Nanking Massacre as a whole. ( not saying they all would, but i know from personal experience that a person who would be against that deny they deserve it. ) Anyhow, I can't say I agree with you on that. I can forgive the country as a whole for the atrocities, but I can't forgive the individuals who went through with those atrocities. Of course, most are dead so it wouldn't matter anyway and that would make everything void. Germany for example, I forgive the country and don't blame the citizens of today- "do not punish the child for the sins of the father", is what i say-- but i don't forgive the dead nazi's who carried it out, if that makes sense.
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Everything you say makes perfect sense. As sad as it is, we can not fix the past. So we should learn from it and try to fix the future. In Germany, we still have trials against people who supported the atrocities of national socialism. Most of them are dead now, but some are still alive and there are different opinions on how we should deal with them. Last year, one of the people who had worked in Ausschwitz was put on trial and that gave a lot of discussions about forgiveness. It is not an easy topic.
Here are some articles about that:
www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/e…
www.quora.com/What-is-Eva-Kors…
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I read the article, and the man seemed to have apologized. Not only that, but the Auschwitz survivor seems to have forgiven him as well.. I actually find this quite beautiful -- despite there being an uncertainty in my heart. Questions come to mind- is he genuine? or is he just trying to get out of being convicted? It's hard to forgive a person who committed such acts, and it's unfortunately for me to say I still don't forgive him, but I find it good that the survivor can.
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Everybody suffered, ok? No need to talk like that about them, this whole period was just a shitty mess in which nobody won anything but pain and deaths. Every country has deaths to mourn for so please don't be mean, especially on something like this.
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Well, I forgive the Japanese even though what they did to my country. Because there is actually many Japanese who supports our independence died for it. Even though if I'm not wrong, the British doesn't allow them to give us weapons.
I'm a forgiving person anyway, though what they did maybe unforgivable to some of my country people. Nah, I'm not some anti like that, an anti-*insert country* because if we get to logic, it just start WWIII.
Anyway, this is a touching art!
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it's simple , forgive and forget and be forever in peace!
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About the end of your 2nd edit, you state your thoughts/opinions very clearly some people just don't care to listen no matter how you say it.
If you have not listened to this already you might enjoy it.
[link]
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I love this 
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You did a wonderful job with this picture. Whether or not the bomb was necessary, the loss of life was and still is unacceptable. As many others have commented on this picture I too say no one deserved to die. It was over 60 years ago and there was tragedy on both sides. You're right about the need to forgive. Mourn the fallen on both sides but never rejoice in death because "they deserved it". Again, my compliments to you. Spread the word.
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It reminds me of the Hunger Games, where people have to fight to death for the entertainment of people in the country's Capitol. It's supposed to be payback for what rebels long ago did to the Capitol. But it's really for the Capitol's entertainment, and the vengeance that never ended there. In the end of the story, the protagonist's sister dies and they decide to make one last Hunger Games with the Capitol's children, for they thought they deserved to die. A character, Peeta says no because the Hunger Games is why they rebelled. Beetee says people have to stop viewing each other as enemies. Katniss, the protagonist thoughts are that long ago maybe after the rebellion someone made a poll for the Hunger Games, and now nothing will change. But for revenge of her sister, she agrees.
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As my great grandfather said, "Tá Life ar Mystery. Is é ceann de na mysteries mór an croí duine."
Translated: Life is a mystery. One of the greatest mysteries is the human heart.
And it is true, just like you show with feeling in this piece, no one believes what Irish had to go through. Say we had nothing, or my dad, Korean had nothing to went through. Everyone, every generation, every race has to go through some things.
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I send many love vibes~
I can't really put to words how I feel about WW2, mainly because I just want to blame Hitler for it all~ But that's not right either, because it's not entirely true, especially when you see that some of the beginnings for WW2 started with how the people who won WW1 handled the losers.
Whats sad about that is that Woodrow Wilson tried to help the losers, because he knew something bad would happen(though, he might not have though another World War would have started) if someone didn't do something to help. But everyone else was like...NO. I that makes me go....morons.
AGH.
-ahem-
Now, I'm going to go and hide in my ameripan shrine...see you~
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I don't think the Japanese deserved the bombings, but I do think they were necessary to end the war. The Japanese culture is stubborn and proud, and that is something that I admire, and it really showed itself in WWII, what with the kamakazee (yeah no idea how to spell that) and all. In a desperate attempt to end the war - and to assert our power - America dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I think it was tragic, but necessary.
As a side note - we spent years and tons of money rebuilding Japan, so we did feel bad for what we did.
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I absolutely love this idea.
As long as people won't change their attitude, there will be no forgiving and if that is the case, hatred will never cease. Your picture is a step forward to open their eyes.
Would you mind if I reblog your picture in tumblr? (With a link to this picture and your account)
I really want them to see their mistake in blaming one another and I'd love to spread your great picture and this very nice comment you wrote below.
I would really like more people to aknowledge this idea.
Greetings!
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This is beautiful. An art that teaches people to love and not to hate.
History is made to teach people the events that shook millions of lives and killed innocent people. For me, history is a life lesson that is embraced for all eternity. It teaches people not to do these sinful deeds again, however, some do not embrace this life lesson.
Many of my classmates are ignorant of history. Some of my fellow Filipinos still hate the Japanese for invading it, but did they even like the invasion? Did they like making people suffer?
It hurt me to see people hating each other because of what happened before. It hurt me to see people hating each other. It hurt me to see hatred.
I want my family to see that Japan had changed, every country had changed. I want them to see the dark history of everyone and understand why it happened. I want them to respect and understand each others sides and see their loves during the horrific events.
I just want people to understand. I want hatred to be gone. If hatred will be gone, then peace will exist forever.
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Thank you so much for making this. You thaught me that forgiveness is possible. we have to face the blame and learn from those mistakes in the past than try to move on.
I hope the goverment and people in power would learn from these and stop making and seeding hatred through wars, we had enough of Wars. To US government, stop waging war with other countries and to Japan goverment, please apologize for the invasion in WW2, and to former colonial country, please apologize for the invasions of our country after Japan left.
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I love this, it's beautiful and it sums up how I feel about wars in general. Incidentally, I quoted some of these lines to my dad (without realizing it) when he and I got into an argument about one of my history reports years ago. He's a soldier and while he doesn't like wars, he feels little to no sympathy to another country's people when both sides are suffering. I'm no soldier (WAAAAAYYYY too emotional to be one) and while I can understand why wars happen and for what reasons (with lots of research into both sides; otherwise you just get a biased view of the victor's side), I believe no one should force others to suffer like that.
I'm of the opinion that we are human: there will always be some kind of conflict (whether minor or on a war scale), but that doesn't mean we can't learn to forgive and live with each other afterward. If we can make conflict and war, we can also make peace and cooperation. It doesn't have to be easy, it SHOULDN'T be easy, but we can do it with effort.
Ahem, okay, stepping off my soapbox now. As I said, this is beautiful and I think it suits Japan's and America's personalities well. I kinda wish Germany and Italy (mostly Germany though) could be in this too, but it's wonderful either way. What actually stands out to me the most is the over al color palate of the picture; the light tones remind me of the early hours of dawn, and makes me think of new beginnings.
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This Was so powerful for me Because I've been hurt and bitter towards someone for so long now, and Reading this, and the words in the description just Melted my Heart. It gives me something to remember...Thank you! You Unintentionally helped me!
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this is really sweet to bad people are stubborn idiots and cant let go of the past *sighs* now i feel depressed and philosophical again
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I love what you're trying to say here. This really is an inspiration. : )
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This was well layed out and drawn. I think the concept is really good and you pulled it off very well. Your description is very well written too. The men and women on Pearl Harbor didn't deserve to die nor did the people in those cities. No innocent life deserves that fate.
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I love this picture, This is simply beautiful, I know it's 2 years old and I'm just finding it but still~ xD It's probably my favorite Ameripan picture of all time~ <3 Good work~ ;u;
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very meaningful and touching piece,
I love it so much
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