Miracle of Miracles

I want to share a story...because it's too good to keep to myself. I led a small group Bible study session this morning about Jesus healing the official's son and as a result we got totally off-track on the subject of "wonders and miracles." (And now I would like to reference Fiddler on the Roof's marvellous Wonder of Wonders "Miracle of Miracles" song). During our session, I talked about a trip that I took last month to a women's conference at which an incredible Japanese lady named Mrs. Koko Kondo spoke about her life.

Here's my version of her story:
Koko was 8 months old at the time of the bombing on Hiroshima. She talked about her experiences growing up and meeting bomb survivors and hearing so many sad stories about how people's lives had been forever altered. As a young girl Koko vowed that one day she would meet the pilot of the Enola Gay and kick and hit and maybe even bite him to make him pay for dropping the atomic bomb on her city. Her father, Rev. Tanimoto (read Hiroshima by John Hersey), brought 25 Hiroshima Maidens to the U.S. for plastic surgery. While he was there, Ralph Edwards of the TV show This is Your Life arranged for an interview with Captain Robert A. Lewis, the co-pilot of the Enola Gay. Rev. Tanimoto's family were invited to come to the interview, so Koko and her mother and siblings were all sitting in the front row of the audience during the q & a session. Koko was so shocked to see one of the men who had been on the plane, and she was even angrier that she had the bad luck to meet him when she was only 10 and couldn't beat him up as she had planned. So she just stared at him and hoped he would feel the bitter intensity of her hatred. Then Edwards asked Captain Lewis how he felt after the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The co-pilot explained that when he and the others on the plane flew back to report on the damage, Hiroshima was gone. It was as if the city had never even existed. Captain Lewis said that his immediate reaction was: "My God, what have we done?" And as he spoke he started to cry. Meanwhile, Koko was watching him closely. She saw Captain Lewis crumble in front of her as he recalled his complicity in the reckless murder of so many people. Suddenly she realized that she couldn't hate him anymore. His remorse was so painfully and sincerely evident. After the interview, she went up to Captain Lewis and touched his hand. It was a warm hand--a very human hand.

Later, after she had finished college, Koko decided she wanted to thank Captain Lewis for what he had said on the show. It was then that she discovered he had been admitted to a mental hospital. Nursing attendants told her he had made two clay sculptures during his time in the hospital. One was of a mushroom cloud. The other was a single teardrop. This was the best representation he could make of his feelings about the bombing. Koko was always grateful to him for changing her life and taking away her desire for revenge against the people involved in the bombing.

P.S. Life is also a miracle, right? At ARI we have 10 new baby piglets. :)