因为在神没有一件事是不可能的

We went to the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Museum today. It was a really big peace park and museum on the southern tip of the island. It's right on Suicide Cliffs where loads of people, mostly professionals like doctors and whatnot, jumped to their death when they saw the Americans coming. Which, sad to say, was probably a better way to die then having to suffer the war.

There was a monument with the names of every person who died in the battle on Okinawa. Over 200,000 people died, over 100,000 of them civilians.

The worst part of these peace museums is the testimony room. They have books and books of short testimonies by people who lived through the war. I read about 20 before I was to angry to think clearly. Not so much because of what happened, but that it is all happening again, right now, and no one cares.

There was a story a young girl was telling. She said she was running away from gunfire, but not knowing where the fire was coming from or going to she just ran the same way as everyone else. She took cover and watched people run by her. While she was watching people she saw a mother carrying her baby on her back. But her baby no longer had a head. The mother had no idea, she was still walking away, too scared to think.

Another story made me think quite a bit. There was a family that had been kicked out of their house because fighting had come through their village. After traveling the day they were going to spend the night in a pigs pen. The grandfather said that "It doesn't matter where I am when I die, if it is time for me to die I will die out here. I'm not getting in that filthy pigs pen." He proceeded to roll up in his mat outside. In the morning when everyone woke up the Grandmother went out to get her husband. He was still rolled up in his bedding, but when she unrolled it his head was gone.

He obviously would have lived through the night had he been willing to humble himself. Although, maybe not. Who am I to say.

I don't understand how people can walk through these museums and still think that war is acceptable for any reason at any time. Look at pictures of people caught in war, try to find hope, a smile, anything good. There is nothing but evil. How can people, especially Christians, support that?

There is a lot more to the history of Okinawa. Unfortunately it is all dimmed by World War II. I would much rather learn about something other than wars. Okinawan people have always been a peace loving people. Their whole history is completely peaceable, unfortunately they have been conquered so many times recently because the island is in such a strategic location...

Until Americans came to the island they even boasted "an island of no locked doors."

It seems life used to be easier, slower, better. I would almost wish I was born a hundreds of years ago.