Celebration Day

Apparently, today is VJ Day, a time when some people celebrate the bombing of the Japanese people into submission 65 years ago.

Well, I’d like to celebrate something too. By way of contrast with the horrible mutilation of what was clearly once a magnificent oak tree in the middle of a Milton Keynes shopping centre as part of the Mother McNature^TM display in my last post, here is an example of how it is possible for trees to be treated with dignity, even in the middle of an urban landscape.

Six Ginkgo trees that were close to the hypocentre of the bomb blast in Hiroshima in 1945 nevertheless began to grow new buds afterwards and the buildings surrounding them have been rebuilt around the trees, allowing them to grow unhindered by the developments around them.

These trees were no part of anybody’s war, they simply carried on living their lives regardless of what evil they were subjected to. For that, they serve as an example to us all and deserve our respect.