Not To Be Sentimental...

[RICHARD ROMEO]

...but my personal view of Hiroshima:  a picture of my girlfriend's niece 
(her father is Japanese) in a kimono sweetly smiling into the camera in 
my girlfriend's apartment unbeknownst that her paternal grandfather 
bombed the same cities and towns where her maternal ancestors trod 
(possibly killing a few of them).  My girlfriend has told me that her 
parents have not told their Japanese counterparts about this for various 
reasons.  Ultimately, I think we have to remember victims-and i can't but 
help to think of all those kids like this little girl vaporized or worse. 
 
"every man's death is my own death"...John Donne?

By the way, I read the first 50 pages or so of Gass' The Tunnel-reads 
like a diary of an American Blicero or one of his cousins living 
comfortably in America.  I'm bringing it back to the library-not a good 
segue from the Recognitions.