Social Entrepreneurship Project
Education Autobiography
Vietnam Art Project
Artist Statement
My art piece represents my perspective statement in many different ways. To summarize my perspective statement, it is talking about how protesting and advocating for and against war was an important public process and the truth may not ever be revealed. This war was a conflict between communism and capitalism that resulted in millions of lives being taken. Noting that there are two different sides to this conflict, I thought it would be an interesting idea to make two opposing, protesting posters on this art project. One poster indicates that war is inhumane and we should make love and peace, not war. The other opposing side shows that we need to stop the spread of communism by going to war. This side also shows an octopus on an image of Europe. This is a symbol showing that Russia is spreading communism into several bordering countries. My final draft of my art piece are both posters on picketts crossing each other. This is very symbolic because people protesting on the streets would use these. My perspective statement is in a big font placed right where the pickets intersect. I did this so any student, teacher, or individual knows what I am trying to show and convey through my art piece.
The revision process of this project consisted of a lot of deep thought, and many peer critiques. I started off getting my ideas down on a piece of paper. Obviously, this was a very rough start, and had very little effort. I knew what I had to do for my next draft; I put more time into it and put a few symbols and quotes onto each poster. Then, since I had all my ideas down on my second draft, I asked for a few peer critiques, and my parents for new ideas and areas I could improve on for my next draft. Some of the critiques I received were improving my drawings, and adding a couple quotes from the book we have been reading, “The Things They Carried.” I included all the feedback I got on my second draft and put them onto colored poster boards. I also printed out the symbols off of the internet. This way, it looks a lot more neat and clean. Finally, my fourth and final draft differed from my third draft by adding a whole collage of photos, symbols, and quotes that go along with each side.
One thing that influenced my project was simply browsing on the internet. I finally found some images of people protesting on the streets with their pickets. I was instantly hooked to this idea. As I began to expand on this idea, I thought of making two different posters for both sides; a side for war, and an opposing anti-war side. I wanted to make these posters very creative and to the best of my ability. I was able to attain this goal by accepting and using the feedback my peers have given me.
Slaughterhouse 5 Seminar Reflection
Reactions:
One comment made in the seminar was on the question were the Tralfamadorians real or was it just Billy’s imagination? A comment came up at one point in the seminar about how Kurt Vonnegut, the author, was putting himself in place of the Tralfamadorians and traveling Billy from place to place and from time to time. Therefore, the Tralfamadorians, we thought, were not real in the book. The author was just putting himself in Billy’s shoes to show the reader his experiences he was going through in the war.
Detailed Response:
One of the main questions in the seminar was, did Billy Pilgrim have free will? This was a very hard question to answer in the discussion. Ultimately I thought that Billy did not have free will because of all of his problems he has been having over the years. Of course, he can tell him self to pick something up or do this or that, but I don’t think he can control when or where he time travels to and when the Tralfamadorians take him. I think this was exactly what Kurt Vonnegut was going through as well. He was writing about Billy’s experiences as if they were his. They were so descriptive and even though it seemed like complete nonsense, this is probably what Vonnegut was going through before, during, and after the firebombing of Dresden.
Connections:
I can connect Billy Pilgrim to a man that volunteered his time to talk about his life in Biology a couple weeks ago. This man’s name was Ken Marsh. This man was in prison for 21 years for something he didn’t do. He was recently exonerated and he told us everything that happened. I feel like I connect this man to Billy Pilgrim because I feel like they both didn’t have free will. Ken Marsh did not know what to do. He felt hopeless and thought his life was over. Billy did not have much control over his life and same did Ken. They both were confused men in extreme situations and did not feel like they had free will because they did not know what to do. They were so scared and this affected how they lived their lives afterward.
Stephen’s Choice Question:
A connection I can make between All Quiet on the Western Front and Slaughterhouse 5 is that both books are anti-war books and are trying to emphasize that war is inhumane. They are trying to say that nothing good comes out of it. It affects the people’s life, sometimes forever. The authors of these books are trying to give their opinions that war will never end and it will always be morally wrong. What other solution do we have? What will come next?
All Quiet on the Western Front Seminar Reflection
Reactions:
A couple of really good points and comments were made during my seminar. One comment made by TJ in chapter 7 was when he said, “why do the soldiers in the battlefield let the injured, suffering dog, die? This also drew us to the question of why they let the horses die as well in chapter 4. We came to a conclusion that first of all, if they tried to save the horse or dog they would most likely die because it is way too risky, and the chances of them getting shot is very high. The second thing is that if they did make it and tried to save the dog, it would be so hard to save it’s life. The soldiers probably knew that if Paul did try to save the dog, it would be pointless because they know the dog will probably die in minutes. It would be much harder on Paul emotionally.
Detailed Response:
One of our major questions in the seminar was my question saying, “why did Paul let the French soldier, that he had stabbed, choke on his own blood and suffer all night long when he could’ve easily put him out of his misery? Paul felt extremely guilty that he had injured the soldier badly. He is so in shock, that he doesn’t have what it takes to slit his throat and kill him. Every time Paul heard the man, Gerard Duval, gasp, he felt like he was being stabbed by an invisible dagger. On page 221 in Chapter 9, Paul says, “Soon the silence is more unbearable than the groans. I wish the gurgling were still there again, gasping hoarse, now whistling softly and again hoarse and loud.” I think Paul says this because he feels like he deserves the invisible dagger stabbing him. He needs that to feel alive and to accept that he has killed this man.
Connections:
Paul is seen as a ‘momma’s boy’ in “All Quiet on the Western Front”, and loves his mother with all his heart and would do anything for her. He also has a very loving friendship with all of his “brothers” at war. He is in a very tough situation because his mother has cancer and seems to be slowly dying at Paul’s hometown. He also knows that his school buddies or “brothers” at war could die at any moment when he is away from them on his leave. I can make a comparison between this situation and something that has happened in my life. I am an extremely competitive person, and I have a very strong passion for climbing. I also love to play my gibson guitar at band rehearsal and at gigs around town. It is very difficult to become a serious musician when I have a strong passion for competitive rock climbing. Knowing what circumstances it takes to be one of the top athletes in the nation, training comes down to a very strict schedule and so much determination. Same goes with my music career. I have figured out my schedule now, and I am mostly focused on my climbing along with usually once a week of practicing with my band at stillwater. I think that Paul had to deal with similar circumstances, of course more harsh though. He had to figure out a way to deal with his problems with seeing his dying mother rather than his friends at war under extreme conditions.
Stephen’s Choice Question:
A perspective coming from Gerard Duval, the soldier that Paul stabbed, would be very sad and emotional. Let’s say that I am now the french soldier, Gerald Duval. I am running from the germans, and I found this shell hole. I jump in quickly. Before I know it, I am stabbed repetitively by a german soldier that has already been in the shell hole. I lie on the rocky, uncomfortable ground. I have trouble breathing and I start to cough and choke on my own blood. I start to feel dizzy, losing lots of blood. The german just lays there. It looks like he feels very guilty and looks very ashamed of himself. I have a very rough night, and surprisingly I am still alive at dawn the next morning. The german comes up to me and starts to talk to me saying that he didn’t mean to do it. At the moment, I didn’t know what to think. My life was almost over, and the german made me really think what does war truly mean? I started to ponder for several minutes…...The frenchman then died, and in my opinion, he lay there pondering about what the meaning of war was and Paul made him reflect back on what he is doing, along with us, the germans.
WWI Creative Historians
Link to my exhibition speech:
How I Survived the Atom Bomb
(Based off of a true story from Michihiko Hachiya)
It is the year of 1945. Hiroshima is beautiful this time of year. I walk outside and gaze at my surroundings. The air is perfectly still, the sun is warm with an open, alluring blue sky, and the leaves lie beside the trees in their omniscient colors and shapes. I walk inside to my small but beautiful home with a small backyard, porch and cobblestone designs around. I sit by the furnace in my rocking chair. As I stare into the crackling fire, I start to think about my life when I was a little boy.
I grew up in Tokyo with my grandparents. I never had been able to make contact with my mother and father. I lived a hard life back then. I worked very hard on my grandparents house and I did whatever they told me to do. I had to mow the lawns, vacuum the house, take care of the dogs and much more every day. It was a lot to ask from such a young boy. It wasn’t until 1912, when the most amazing thing happened to me. I moved to Hiroshima and met the love of my life, Yaekosan.
I suddenly am startled and see Yaekosan, my wife, in front of me. She comes up to me, and I embrace her into my arms.
“Good morning Yaekosan,” I say.
She replies in her sweet soothing voice, “Good morning my love.”
I couldn’t describe how loved I felt when I was around her. She made me feel so lucky and I loved her with all my heart. I eat my breakfast, said bye to Yaekosan, and head out the door to where I work.
As I walk to the hospital, where I work, I noticed that the air tasted salty, and my mouth waters as I smell that savory chinese food as I pass by downtown. The sidewalk trembles briefly from the loud music, as well.
I soon began to ponder about what is going on in the Middle East. I love to read the newspapers and watch current news on the television. I feel so horrible about these current issues that are going on in Europe. I feel that I can help in some way, but I just don’t know how. World War 2 has been such a devastating event and men have never been so terrified in the history of wars.
I am at a hard time right now. Lately, I have been feeling so depressed about this event and everyday I would pray to my God to help these innocent, loyal men who are fighting for their rights.
I arrive at the hospital moments later. The name of the hospital I work at is called the Hiroshima Communication’s Hospital. I greet people walking down the aisle as they greet me. We are very friendly here and love helping and working with other people to save lives.
“Good morning doctor Michihiko.”
“Good morning. How is everyone doing?”
“Great! Beautiful morning isn’t it, doctor Michihiko?” “Indeed it is.”
I have been working here for most of my life. I am 76 years old now and I still am passionate for my job, being a doctor. My life is about to come to an end, though. I am peaceful yet I am not quite content with my life. I feel like my life has more meaning to it. I am becoming very old with wrinkles spreading over my body ever so slowly. I am a rather short man. When I walk, my short bangs of my brown hair swings from side to side. My green eyes hide behind a pair of thick round spectacles, which are perched on a short nose and I have a long, wide, wrinkly, turtle shaped neck.
It was a short day at the hospital. I am thinking a lot to myself today and I have mostly been pondering to myself about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. What am I doing with my life? Does my life have more purpose to it? Do I truly love my job? My life? Have I lived my life to the fullest? These were some of the many questions I asked myself today.
Before walking home after work, I wanted to ask my God these questions. My religion is Shinto, which is the indigenous religion of Japan. I pray and pray in the shrine. The Shinto shrine is what we call a Jinja. It was a very peaceful day. I felt like I am really being listened to this quiet evening. I wander my way back to my house to my beautiful wife.
“Hello Yaekosan,” I said.
“Good evening,” she replied back to me.
These were the days where everything and everyone was happy. Everyone is peaceful from the homes they live in, the places they work, the food they eat and the air they breath. I drifted over to the balcony with my wife, and we just stare into the endless shimmering stars of the night. It is still, quiet, peaceful and calm.
The next morning, I wake up in bed early. I start to make my daily morning coffee as I sit in my chair next to the couch in the living room. Again, everything was peaceful...
Suddenly, a very strong flash occurred and startled me. I collapsed onto the ground, blinded by the light, and fainted from extreme pain. Moments pass by and I slowly open my eyes, then start to wonder what happened? I am confused and in
shock. I move by instinct and suddenly notice that I am bare naked. “How odd”, I say to myself. Then, I feel a great, sharp pain on my right side. I notice that the whole right side of my body was cut and bleeding. I have a very large splinter protruding into my right thigh. I begin to moan very loudly at the severe pain that I was in. I then began to notice another pain coming from my cheek when I had opened my mouth. My cheek was torn open along with a piece of glass embedded into my neck. I immediately start yelling for help. Soon, I start to wonder where my wife was. I yell her name, “Yaekosan! Yaekosannnn!!!! Where are you?” I start to whimper and cry softly as I felt the blood trickle into my mouth from my torn cheek. I am hopeless, fearful, scared, and confused. Beginning to move more, I notice that I am surrounded with rubble and fallen timber that barred my way of getting out. I somehow manage to crawl my way out of there. As soon as I see my surroundings, there is nothing anymore, literally. The entire city of Hiroshima is gone. Collapsed buildings, rubble, timber and fire take over the city. I shout my wifes name several more times. I am so worried and scared for her right now. Never before have I felt this way. I search for several minutes that seem like hours going by.
I have to make a very hard decision right now. I have to decide quickly now, whether I am going to keep searching for my wife or if I am going to have to leave her and hustle to the hospital before I was going to die. I am losing a lot of blood fast and I am in very much pain.
“I’m going to be ok. I trust that if my wife is still alive, she will know where I will be,” I said to myself outloud while aching in pain.
I start to move swiftly to the hospital. Time is awaiting me. Every step I take feels like an invisible dagger stabbing me. I know I would find something good at the hospital. Even if I died before saving my self, I would be in the place where it felt like a second home, a place where I know my body would be found.
Approaching the hospital, I get weaker and weaker. My heart is racing increasing faster and faster. I am getting very scared and I began to think why this happened, and especially how it happened. Everything I see is completely demolished. As if a hundred foot giant started knocking down buildings and stepping on cars and houses, like a toddler would play with his toys at home.
I see my life flash before my eyes knowing in the back of my head that my life could not continue, it is over. There is no way anymore. Even if I make it to the hospital, I thought to myself there is no way I could be saved. No way. My vision is becoming blurry, I feel heavier and my body weighs me down to the ground. I rest for a moment and realize I am right next to a person. I get up and accidentally trip on him. I say to him in my moaning voice, “I’m sorry sir, are you alright?” There was no response. What was I thinking. He was dead. They were all dead. How did I survive this?
After what it seemed like hours of limping through the rubble and remains of the buildings, I look up and see myself underneath the Hiroshima Communication’s
Hospital. My feelings are indescribable. I am hopeful to be here, but I am physically and emotionally drained and exhausted to know what was going on around myself. I see familiar faces in the distance. Mr. Iguchi, Mr. Yoshihiro and my old friend, Mr. Sera, who is head of the business office. They seem like they are ok, better shape than I was. Before I realized it, I was on the stretcher and carried into the hospital. I start to feel very dizzy and nauseous. My friends are on my sides running me inside on the stretcher. As I enter the hospital, I see people everywhere that look extremely injured, just like I am. The plaster is peeling off the walls. The ceilings are cracked. Furniture is destroyed and into pieces all over the place. I hear the cries and moans of the innocent people. Children are screaming for their moms and dads. I smell very old clothes and vomit as well. It smells absolutely horrible. I also smell a bit of smoke.
I start to be examined by a doctor. He gives me some pills. I am desperate for anything. I take them immediately. My pain at this point is unbearable. I am feeling pain everywhere in my body. Things got even worse. I am one of the first witnesses to notice smoke coming in through the window. Soon enough, I hear someone yell, “Fire, FIRE!!!! Everyone get out NOW! Move, move, move. Let’s go!” I can’t imagine anything else worse happening.
I am picked up on my stretcher again. They rush me out of the building as fast as I’ve ever seen them run. When we get out of the building, I see the fire taking over the entire building. A third of the building was already starting to crumble and I could see some people on the upper floor trapped. I started to cry softly again. The tears rushed down the sides of my cheek right into my wound. It burns badly. I see two people jump out of the highest floors. I turn my head. I cannot see anymore. At this point, everyone is just trying to save themselves. I am lucky enough to still have my friends right by my side.
The winds start kicking up. The ashes and smoke gets in all of our faces. I get dropped to the ground in my stretcher. Mr. Iguchi, Mr. Yoshihiro, Mr. Sera cover their nose and mouth with their shirts. I start coughing heavily. My eyes are watering and my nose is dripping. Ashes and embers fly onto my body. It burns my left arm bad and I apply pressure with my other arm. Everyone is coughing uncontrollably now. The wind alone is unbearable. It was kicking up all the remains, dust and dirt, and the fire.
I literally thought to myself, how could this be worse? Well it got worse. The rain starts to come. It is pouring down like a young boy crying when his favorite toy got taken away. It is very windy, pouring down rain, there is fire around us, and I am in extreme pain. What next? Planes came. People started screaming, “Planes, planes!?” I think to myself what else do they want? We have already been bombed. Hiroshima is not Hiroshima anymore. It is just a dump. What more could come? That’s all I remember that day.
I wake up the next morning, or at least what I thought was the next morning. It was hard to describe what was going through my mind right then. My eyes slowly creak
open. My arms and legs are very stiff, and my back is hard to move. I look around the room and see my friends, and a doctor. I slowly started to turn my head to my right. I can’t believe who is standing right in front of my very eyes. It took my mind a little bit to process the information that I was seeing but after a few minutes I started to believe. My wife is standing in front of me. She has stained clothes with blood and scratches and bruises all over her body. She leans over to me in my bed and kissed me on the forehead. I can’t speak, my body was full of relief. I start to cry tears of joy as I hugged her. I say quietly to her in her ear, “Yaekosan, I love you so much. I thought you weren’t going to be able to survive! I was scared to death. I am so sorry I left you. I hope you understand that the decision I made had to be done.” She said back to me, “Sweetheart, I completely understand. I would do the same thing. I’m just glad you trusted that I would make it and that you made the right decision. I just hope that you are ok? You need to rest. You are injured very badly.”
I am just about to get up out of bed.
The doctor immediately said, “Sir you are going to have to just stay there, unfortunately. Your skeletal structure is too weak.”
I replied, “Well, how long will I be lying here for?”
The doctor sighed, “A few days. Maybe a week.”
“A week?!”
“Sir, like I said, I am very sorry, but the best thing you can do right now is just
rest. Nothing else.”
I just shake my head in disappointment, and rest my head back onto the uncomfortable pillow on the small bed. I can feel the springs of the bed on my back and my head would not sink into the pillow I am resting on. I sigh heavily. Everyone left the room. The doctor came in the room, and handed me my medicine.
I quickly ask, “Doc, I was just wondering how many people are in this hospital?” “I’m afraid there are about 200 people here right now. It was a really bad night last night. After you fainted from your exhaustion and extreme pain, people were running hysterically all over the place. The fires got worse, the winds got worse, the dust got up our nose, in our mouths and our eyes were watering. We were lucky enough to get you back onto the stretcher and carry you back to this hospital, and as you can see there is not much left. The upper two floors of this building are completely gone. The fire took it out.”
I am speechless. There is nothing left I could say, and I just knew that the doctor was thinking about was I was going to be pondering about what he said. He left the room as I sat up in my bed confused.
I turn on the very small TV that laid just to the left of my bed on a small desk. I was very surprised it actually worked. The news reporter on the channel I turned on was talking about a new weapon being used on us in Hiroshima along with a second bomb dropped on Nagasaki. I was startled by this. This gave me the idea that tens or even
hundreds of thousands of people were killed or injured during this. What did we do wrong? All I know was that we were part of the axis powers. The news reporter also claimed that Japan had officially surrendered. This was the end of WW2, the most devastating and cruel war in history.
I finally get a chance to talk to my wife. I look at her cuts, bruises and bandages.
“Yaekosan. Are you ok?”
“Yes Michihiko. I am doing ok. Just please lay down. You are much more injured than I am. You need the rest.”
So I just lay there. I wondered in my bed what the truth of war really was. I had to think very deep and very long about this. But after all war is war. I am not angry, sad, or happy, but just a curious, old man. I have come to a conclusion in my head that war will never truly end. War and disagreement in general is part of human nature. We are built and created to have opinions and disagreements with each other. Unfortunately, technology these days have brought war to a completely higher level giving some countries advantages than others.
I think I have actually got what I was looking for. I helped the men in the Middle East by being a victim of the atom bomb that was dropped on our city, and stopped the war from continuing and spreading all throughout Europe. I feel surprisingly content with my life right now. I have lived my life to the fullest and feel that this was all for a reason.
It is 8:15p.m. here in Hiroshima, Japan on April 8th of 1945, and I have hereby claimed that I have survived the very first atomic bomb.
(Based off of a true story from Michihiko Hachiya)
It is the year of 1945. Hiroshima is beautiful this time of year. I walk outside and gaze at my surroundings. The air is perfectly still, the sun is warm with an open, alluring blue sky, and the leaves lie beside the trees in their omniscient colors and shapes. I walk inside to my small but beautiful home with a small backyard, porch and cobblestone designs around. I sit by the furnace in my rocking chair. As I stare into the crackling fire, I start to think about my life when I was a little boy.
I grew up in Tokyo with my grandparents. I never had been able to make contact with my mother and father. I lived a hard life back then. I worked very hard on my grandparents house and I did whatever they told me to do. I had to mow the lawns, vacuum the house, take care of the dogs and much more every day. It was a lot to ask from such a young boy. It wasn’t until 1912, when the most amazing thing happened to me. I moved to Hiroshima and met the love of my life, Yaekosan.
I suddenly am startled and see Yaekosan, my wife, in front of me. She comes up to me, and I embrace her into my arms.
“Good morning Yaekosan,” I say.
She replies in her sweet soothing voice, “Good morning my love.”
I couldn’t describe how loved I felt when I was around her. She made me feel so lucky and I loved her with all my heart. I eat my breakfast, said bye to Yaekosan, and head out the door to where I work.
As I walk to the hospital, where I work, I noticed that the air tasted salty, and my mouth waters as I smell that savory chinese food as I pass by downtown. The sidewalk trembles briefly from the loud music, as well.
I soon began to ponder about what is going on in the Middle East. I love to read the newspapers and watch current news on the television. I feel so horrible about these current issues that are going on in Europe. I feel that I can help in some way, but I just don’t know how. World War 2 has been such a devastating event and men have never been so terrified in the history of wars.
I am at a hard time right now. Lately, I have been feeling so depressed about this event and everyday I would pray to my God to help these innocent, loyal men who are fighting for their rights.
I arrive at the hospital moments later. The name of the hospital I work at is called the Hiroshima Communication’s Hospital. I greet people walking down the aisle as they greet me. We are very friendly here and love helping and working with other people to save lives.
“Good morning doctor Michihiko.”
“Good morning. How is everyone doing?”
“Great! Beautiful morning isn’t it, doctor Michihiko?” “Indeed it is.”
I have been working here for most of my life. I am 76 years old now and I still am passionate for my job, being a doctor. My life is about to come to an end, though. I am peaceful yet I am not quite content with my life. I feel like my life has more meaning to it. I am becoming very old with wrinkles spreading over my body ever so slowly. I am a rather short man. When I walk, my short bangs of my brown hair swings from side to side. My green eyes hide behind a pair of thick round spectacles, which are perched on a short nose and I have a long, wide, wrinkly, turtle shaped neck.
It was a short day at the hospital. I am thinking a lot to myself today and I have mostly been pondering to myself about what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. What am I doing with my life? Does my life have more purpose to it? Do I truly love my job? My life? Have I lived my life to the fullest? These were some of the many questions I asked myself today.
Before walking home after work, I wanted to ask my God these questions. My religion is Shinto, which is the indigenous religion of Japan. I pray and pray in the shrine. The Shinto shrine is what we call a Jinja. It was a very peaceful day. I felt like I am really being listened to this quiet evening. I wander my way back to my house to my beautiful wife.
“Hello Yaekosan,” I said.
“Good evening,” she replied back to me.
These were the days where everything and everyone was happy. Everyone is peaceful from the homes they live in, the places they work, the food they eat and the air they breath. I drifted over to the balcony with my wife, and we just stare into the endless shimmering stars of the night. It is still, quiet, peaceful and calm.
The next morning, I wake up in bed early. I start to make my daily morning coffee as I sit in my chair next to the couch in the living room. Again, everything was peaceful...
Suddenly, a very strong flash occurred and startled me. I collapsed onto the ground, blinded by the light, and fainted from extreme pain. Moments pass by and I slowly open my eyes, then start to wonder what happened? I am confused and in
shock. I move by instinct and suddenly notice that I am bare naked. “How odd”, I say to myself. Then, I feel a great, sharp pain on my right side. I notice that the whole right side of my body was cut and bleeding. I have a very large splinter protruding into my right thigh. I begin to moan very loudly at the severe pain that I was in. I then began to notice another pain coming from my cheek when I had opened my mouth. My cheek was torn open along with a piece of glass embedded into my neck. I immediately start yelling for help. Soon, I start to wonder where my wife was. I yell her name, “Yaekosan! Yaekosannnn!!!! Where are you?” I start to whimper and cry softly as I felt the blood trickle into my mouth from my torn cheek. I am hopeless, fearful, scared, and confused. Beginning to move more, I notice that I am surrounded with rubble and fallen timber that barred my way of getting out. I somehow manage to crawl my way out of there. As soon as I see my surroundings, there is nothing anymore, literally. The entire city of Hiroshima is gone. Collapsed buildings, rubble, timber and fire take over the city. I shout my wifes name several more times. I am so worried and scared for her right now. Never before have I felt this way. I search for several minutes that seem like hours going by.
I have to make a very hard decision right now. I have to decide quickly now, whether I am going to keep searching for my wife or if I am going to have to leave her and hustle to the hospital before I was going to die. I am losing a lot of blood fast and I am in very much pain.
“I’m going to be ok. I trust that if my wife is still alive, she will know where I will be,” I said to myself outloud while aching in pain.
I start to move swiftly to the hospital. Time is awaiting me. Every step I take feels like an invisible dagger stabbing me. I know I would find something good at the hospital. Even if I died before saving my self, I would be in the place where it felt like a second home, a place where I know my body would be found.
Approaching the hospital, I get weaker and weaker. My heart is racing increasing faster and faster. I am getting very scared and I began to think why this happened, and especially how it happened. Everything I see is completely demolished. As if a hundred foot giant started knocking down buildings and stepping on cars and houses, like a toddler would play with his toys at home.
I see my life flash before my eyes knowing in the back of my head that my life could not continue, it is over. There is no way anymore. Even if I make it to the hospital, I thought to myself there is no way I could be saved. No way. My vision is becoming blurry, I feel heavier and my body weighs me down to the ground. I rest for a moment and realize I am right next to a person. I get up and accidentally trip on him. I say to him in my moaning voice, “I’m sorry sir, are you alright?” There was no response. What was I thinking. He was dead. They were all dead. How did I survive this?
After what it seemed like hours of limping through the rubble and remains of the buildings, I look up and see myself underneath the Hiroshima Communication’s
Hospital. My feelings are indescribable. I am hopeful to be here, but I am physically and emotionally drained and exhausted to know what was going on around myself. I see familiar faces in the distance. Mr. Iguchi, Mr. Yoshihiro and my old friend, Mr. Sera, who is head of the business office. They seem like they are ok, better shape than I was. Before I realized it, I was on the stretcher and carried into the hospital. I start to feel very dizzy and nauseous. My friends are on my sides running me inside on the stretcher. As I enter the hospital, I see people everywhere that look extremely injured, just like I am. The plaster is peeling off the walls. The ceilings are cracked. Furniture is destroyed and into pieces all over the place. I hear the cries and moans of the innocent people. Children are screaming for their moms and dads. I smell very old clothes and vomit as well. It smells absolutely horrible. I also smell a bit of smoke.
I start to be examined by a doctor. He gives me some pills. I am desperate for anything. I take them immediately. My pain at this point is unbearable. I am feeling pain everywhere in my body. Things got even worse. I am one of the first witnesses to notice smoke coming in through the window. Soon enough, I hear someone yell, “Fire, FIRE!!!! Everyone get out NOW! Move, move, move. Let’s go!” I can’t imagine anything else worse happening.
I am picked up on my stretcher again. They rush me out of the building as fast as I’ve ever seen them run. When we get out of the building, I see the fire taking over the entire building. A third of the building was already starting to crumble and I could see some people on the upper floor trapped. I started to cry softly again. The tears rushed down the sides of my cheek right into my wound. It burns badly. I see two people jump out of the highest floors. I turn my head. I cannot see anymore. At this point, everyone is just trying to save themselves. I am lucky enough to still have my friends right by my side.
The winds start kicking up. The ashes and smoke gets in all of our faces. I get dropped to the ground in my stretcher. Mr. Iguchi, Mr. Yoshihiro, Mr. Sera cover their nose and mouth with their shirts. I start coughing heavily. My eyes are watering and my nose is dripping. Ashes and embers fly onto my body. It burns my left arm bad and I apply pressure with my other arm. Everyone is coughing uncontrollably now. The wind alone is unbearable. It was kicking up all the remains, dust and dirt, and the fire.
I literally thought to myself, how could this be worse? Well it got worse. The rain starts to come. It is pouring down like a young boy crying when his favorite toy got taken away. It is very windy, pouring down rain, there is fire around us, and I am in extreme pain. What next? Planes came. People started screaming, “Planes, planes!?” I think to myself what else do they want? We have already been bombed. Hiroshima is not Hiroshima anymore. It is just a dump. What more could come? That’s all I remember that day.
I wake up the next morning, or at least what I thought was the next morning. It was hard to describe what was going through my mind right then. My eyes slowly creak
open. My arms and legs are very stiff, and my back is hard to move. I look around the room and see my friends, and a doctor. I slowly started to turn my head to my right. I can’t believe who is standing right in front of my very eyes. It took my mind a little bit to process the information that I was seeing but after a few minutes I started to believe. My wife is standing in front of me. She has stained clothes with blood and scratches and bruises all over her body. She leans over to me in my bed and kissed me on the forehead. I can’t speak, my body was full of relief. I start to cry tears of joy as I hugged her. I say quietly to her in her ear, “Yaekosan, I love you so much. I thought you weren’t going to be able to survive! I was scared to death. I am so sorry I left you. I hope you understand that the decision I made had to be done.” She said back to me, “Sweetheart, I completely understand. I would do the same thing. I’m just glad you trusted that I would make it and that you made the right decision. I just hope that you are ok? You need to rest. You are injured very badly.”
I am just about to get up out of bed.
The doctor immediately said, “Sir you are going to have to just stay there, unfortunately. Your skeletal structure is too weak.”
I replied, “Well, how long will I be lying here for?”
The doctor sighed, “A few days. Maybe a week.”
“A week?!”
“Sir, like I said, I am very sorry, but the best thing you can do right now is just
rest. Nothing else.”
I just shake my head in disappointment, and rest my head back onto the uncomfortable pillow on the small bed. I can feel the springs of the bed on my back and my head would not sink into the pillow I am resting on. I sigh heavily. Everyone left the room. The doctor came in the room, and handed me my medicine.
I quickly ask, “Doc, I was just wondering how many people are in this hospital?” “I’m afraid there are about 200 people here right now. It was a really bad night last night. After you fainted from your exhaustion and extreme pain, people were running hysterically all over the place. The fires got worse, the winds got worse, the dust got up our nose, in our mouths and our eyes were watering. We were lucky enough to get you back onto the stretcher and carry you back to this hospital, and as you can see there is not much left. The upper two floors of this building are completely gone. The fire took it out.”
I am speechless. There is nothing left I could say, and I just knew that the doctor was thinking about was I was going to be pondering about what he said. He left the room as I sat up in my bed confused.
I turn on the very small TV that laid just to the left of my bed on a small desk. I was very surprised it actually worked. The news reporter on the channel I turned on was talking about a new weapon being used on us in Hiroshima along with a second bomb dropped on Nagasaki. I was startled by this. This gave me the idea that tens or even
hundreds of thousands of people were killed or injured during this. What did we do wrong? All I know was that we were part of the axis powers. The news reporter also claimed that Japan had officially surrendered. This was the end of WW2, the most devastating and cruel war in history.
I finally get a chance to talk to my wife. I look at her cuts, bruises and bandages.
“Yaekosan. Are you ok?”
“Yes Michihiko. I am doing ok. Just please lay down. You are much more injured than I am. You need the rest.”
So I just lay there. I wondered in my bed what the truth of war really was. I had to think very deep and very long about this. But after all war is war. I am not angry, sad, or happy, but just a curious, old man. I have come to a conclusion in my head that war will never truly end. War and disagreement in general is part of human nature. We are built and created to have opinions and disagreements with each other. Unfortunately, technology these days have brought war to a completely higher level giving some countries advantages than others.
I think I have actually got what I was looking for. I helped the men in the Middle East by being a victim of the atom bomb that was dropped on our city, and stopped the war from continuing and spreading all throughout Europe. I feel surprisingly content with my life right now. I have lived my life to the fullest and feel that this was all for a reason.
It is 8:15p.m. here in Hiroshima, Japan on April 8th of 1945, and I have hereby claimed that I have survived the very first atomic bomb.
Project Reflection
Project Description:
In this project, we had to write a historical fiction paper on either World War 1 or 2. This paper had to be 5-7 pages long and had to show in some way the truth of war. Towards the beginning of this project we read, “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Slaughterhouse 5” that gave us all a better idea of how to discuss the truth of war in our books. We learned about setting, plot, and characterization too, that told us that every one of these elements is very important if you want to craft a beautiful short story. I thought this was a very fun project where we had a lot of freedom and could be as abstract as we wanted to. For example, I know that one of the students in our class wrote about war from a horse’s perspective. We had to go through multiple drafts of our story, that took a lot of time, but hopefully paid off to earn a good grade.
Literary Strengths:
I think I did a good job on creating a round character in my story.
In the beginning of the story: “I am at a hard time right now. Lately, I have been feeling so depressed about this event and everyday I would pray to my God to help these innocent, loyal men who are fighting for their rights.”
At the end: I am not angry, sad, or happy, but just a curious, old man. I have come to a conclusion in my head that war will never truly end. War and disagreement in general is part of human nature.
Literary Weakness:
I think one thing I struggled on during writing this story was the historical integration. I think this is a weakness in my paper, and it was hard to be really creative with also adding in historical background on the issue. I got through this, by asking peers on advice to incorporate that without getting off plot or the story line. I managed to get some historical background in my story, but it was a struggle and is probably one of my weakest components in my story.
Story Revisions:
One substantial change I made in my paper was sticking to one tense. This was actually more difficult than I thought because when I was writing this story my mind kept changing from his perspective to my perspective. Then when I re-read my paper, it sounded good, but my mind would not stay on one tense. It kept going from past tense to present. Even though it sounded good to me, it wasn't in correct form and might be confusing to readers when changing from one tense to another. Another substantial change I made in my paper was changing the climax of my story. Mitchell gave me some really good advice on my climax. He advised that I should change the climax so that he loses his wife when the atom bomb hits. Then at the end when he wakes up in the hospital he looks around the room and his wife his standing right in front of him. In the true story, the main character, Michihiko, finds his wife quickly after the bomb is dropped. But, changing the climax definitely made my story more tragic and dramatic at the end and I'm glad Mitchell gave me that feedback.
Project Description:
In this project, we had to write a historical fiction paper on either World War 1 or 2. This paper had to be 5-7 pages long and had to show in some way the truth of war. Towards the beginning of this project we read, “All Quiet on the Western Front” and “Slaughterhouse 5” that gave us all a better idea of how to discuss the truth of war in our books. We learned about setting, plot, and characterization too, that told us that every one of these elements is very important if you want to craft a beautiful short story. I thought this was a very fun project where we had a lot of freedom and could be as abstract as we wanted to. For example, I know that one of the students in our class wrote about war from a horse’s perspective. We had to go through multiple drafts of our story, that took a lot of time, but hopefully paid off to earn a good grade.
Literary Strengths:
I think I did a good job on creating a round character in my story.
In the beginning of the story: “I am at a hard time right now. Lately, I have been feeling so depressed about this event and everyday I would pray to my God to help these innocent, loyal men who are fighting for their rights.”
At the end: I am not angry, sad, or happy, but just a curious, old man. I have come to a conclusion in my head that war will never truly end. War and disagreement in general is part of human nature.
Literary Weakness:
I think one thing I struggled on during writing this story was the historical integration. I think this is a weakness in my paper, and it was hard to be really creative with also adding in historical background on the issue. I got through this, by asking peers on advice to incorporate that without getting off plot or the story line. I managed to get some historical background in my story, but it was a struggle and is probably one of my weakest components in my story.
Story Revisions:
One substantial change I made in my paper was sticking to one tense. This was actually more difficult than I thought because when I was writing this story my mind kept changing from his perspective to my perspective. Then when I re-read my paper, it sounded good, but my mind would not stay on one tense. It kept going from past tense to present. Even though it sounded good to me, it wasn't in correct form and might be confusing to readers when changing from one tense to another. Another substantial change I made in my paper was changing the climax of my story. Mitchell gave me some really good advice on my climax. He advised that I should change the climax so that he loses his wife when the atom bomb hits. Then at the end when he wakes up in the hospital he looks around the room and his wife his standing right in front of him. In the true story, the main character, Michihiko, finds his wife quickly after the bomb is dropped. But, changing the climax definitely made my story more tragic and dramatic at the end and I'm glad Mitchell gave me that feedback.