This pair of camphor trees were standing tall near the epicenter when the bomb fell on Nagasaki. Blasted and burnt they were thought to be dead in the wasteland. In time, new canopy sprouted, and they stood alone and proud in the terrible desolation.

Words cannot express the horror of viewing the exhibits here and in Hiroshima. How sad, how pathetic that man can inflict such terrible pain on fellow humans! But these trees are a symbol of hope and renewal.

Turning to an anecdote from the history of my family, around the time I was born my Dad, Martin Davis was on the faculty of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey. J Robert Oppenheimer arrived as he often did in his black Cadillac. While he was eating dinner with the fellows, my Mom, Virginia Davis, left the table, went out, and wrote “Ban the Bomb” in the dusty rear window of Oppenheimer’s car. Brilliant!