Silence

I wonder what it would have been like to be an alien watching our planet in the 1940's. Or even an impressionable teenager or pre-teen. The world seemed ready to fall apart, at war for years. Millions were dying. In Europe, a crazy dictator was methodically trying to exterminate an entire race of people. Others, even those who were considered credible in the free world, supported a less drastic measure of "purifying" the world through eugenics. Wars raged on, with no side appearing to win, and all over the globe. Those countries that abstained from the war effort drew into themselves, their populace beginning to seethe with discontent. In or out of the world, things would have appeared hopeless - perhaps to the extent of the end of humanity itself.

If we didn't know it was true, the horror of the Holocaust would seem like a sci-fi or horror film. I saw "The Boy in the Striped Pajamas," and it seemed like some sort of M. Night Shamaylan creepfest, but unfortunately too much of it was based on historical fact (the surprise twist was made up).

And then, a victory - in Europe - that gave hope to the world, but it was short lived hope. How could the Allies rest while there was still a gruesome war going on halfway around the world?

And so it happened in early August, two flashes of light. Boom. Boom.

And then, silence.

If our observer were to watch the next 50 years, it would be as if the entire world took a collective gasp. What was this horror that had been unleashed? And when would it strike next? It was as if the world was waiting.

On the planet, life went on - advances were made in technology, social norms changed, people married and had children, they worked and played. But collectively, the gasp remained. In the silence of space, looking down on the planet our observer might wonder what had happened to make the planet as quiet as the space around it.

And gruesome as the question is, I have to wonder, 65 years later, why there were only two explosions.

While the world gasped at the display of power, the United States stood like a mother separating feuding children. The world was gasping. She was screaming, "Stop!" Like the first time a child gets spanked, the effect was instantaneous and, in the scheme of history, short lived.

Our alien doesn't know that in the quiet the world shivers. Nations race to develop the power to explode these horrendous bombs. But the mother is ready, her arms remain outstretched, weapon in hand, facing her enemy, who also carries his weapon. The parents face off - the children cower behind their legs.

I can't help but wonder what would have happened if it had not been the United States who developed this weaponry first. What if it had been any one of our three main enemies at the time. Would they have used the bombs as a warning signal? Or would they have used them to annihilate their enemies and advance their agenda? I know that history is written by the winners, and that the winners therefore come out as "good." But couldn't you also assign the term "good" to the defenders, rather than the aggressors? In which case, wouldn't the result be the same?

Silence.

After going through the Liberty Memorial, I am even more aware now that we may just be living in the time between two wars. 20 years after World War I, Hitler was still vengeful. 20 years after World War II, the war was still at the forefront of Europe's mind, and C.S. Lewis was always writing about it in the 60's.

And yet, even as the pot starts to simmer again, I wonder if this weapon will ever seriously come back. The mother is watching the kids of her enemy - little children who want to play with their daddy's gun. But mother still has her arms outstretched, ready to defend her children. I think that, even between the adult parents, there was an unspoken agreement not to pull the weapon out again. A decision to take two steps back in that particular scientific advancement to advance the cause of something more important that was threatened by its very existence. Humanity.