Today is a day when we should mourn the first and only use of nuclear weapons and their growing threat to life on earth.
By some estimates (e.g., the Ploughshares Fund, June, 2010), there may now be over 20,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Primarily owned by Russia and the United States, these modern weapons are more powerful than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Today is also a day that warrants celebrations. It is a day to appreciate the ongoing efforts of thousands of activists around the world to resist the spread of nuclear weaponry—including the unintended “weaponry” that unleashed death and contamination at Japan’s Fukushima power plant.
Today, psychologists emphasize mindfulness as a path to greater mental health. Think of the anti-nuclear activists as our global agents of mindfulness. They risk persecution and prosecution to help sustain life on earth. They educate, agitate, and promulgate on behalf of all of us.
Today we are approximately one quarter of the way through August, which is Nuclear-Free Future Month. At least for today, think about what this world would be like if we stop — or fail to stop — nuclear proliferation and the retention of thousands of nuclear weapons.
Is this not an issue worthy of your attention? What will you do to make your voice heard?
Today is a good day to learn more about anti-nuclear crusaders for peace and justice. For example, check out The Nuclear Abolitionist, Waging Nonviolence, and The Ploughshares Fund.
Today is a good day to get Howard Zinn’s last book, The Bomb, (City Lights Open Media) and to listen to Daniel Ellsberg’s discussion of the man and the book.
Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology