The making of the atomic bomb has been on the minds of many Americans in recent days thanks to the movie Oppenheimer. I am a child of Los Alamos. I lived there from the time I was a baby until I graduated from high school, and I returned a few summers to work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. When I graduated from high school, I was awarded the Oppenheimer Memorial Award for promise in science, and I went on to study chemistry and physics at Harvard, but my heart was elsewhere. I was drawn to being a spiritual leader and I have carried heavy in my being the legacy of my home town.

Last summer, I was working with a wonderful healer and during our session, I had a visitation from the spirit of a three year old boy who was killed in the bombing at Hiroshima. I asked the little boy how I could help to release him, and his response was, “learn a song about flowers in Japanese.” I was blessed to make a new Japanese friend last fall, and I shared this story with her. Yuri found this song for me and taught me how to pronounce the Japanese. The rosebay is said to be the first flower that bloomed in Hiroshima after the bombing. The song was composed by Shin Ohnishi, with lyrics by Hiroshi Fujimoto, and was written in 1969 during a time of activism in Japan against nuclear weapons.

Here is the translation:

Rosebay, a flower that blooms in summer since the day when the war was over

It pours its heart for mothers and children, blooming on the fields of Hiroshima

As long as the sun shines in the sky, tell the world, “no more atomic bombs!”

Rosebay, a flower that blooms in summer since the day we abandon arms

Hopes of young people filling the world

Blooming on the hills of Nagasaki

As long as the sun shines in the sky, tell the world, “no more atomic bombs!”

To hear the song with piano, sung by a Japanese singer, here is the link: Songs of Hiroshima sung by Mutsuko Kawamoto. The Rosebay Song begins at 4:31.

May we as humanity learn to invest in the safety and security that comes from cultivating loving relationships and solutions that support healing, well-being and protection of living beings. May we empower leaders who have the wisdom, humility and skills to build community and to see beyond divisions.