Reflections on Stonewalk

By Margo Roman

We just arrived home from participating in Stonewalk/Japan. Our journey began on Friday, July 29th, and ended at the Peace Memorial Park in Hiroshima on August 4th. It was an exhausting and extremely hot week, however sharing the experience with family, friends, and meeting many wonderful people of Japan, outweighed any discomfort.

During the entire week we were treated to an outpouring of generous hospitality. The food was delicious and plentiful and housing accommodations very comfortable, including an evening at a Buddhist temple! Each day we pushed the stone from one location to another. At times there was lots of conversation among the walkers to keep our minds off the heat and exhaustion, however the moments of walking only to the sound of the Buddhist’s drums were the most rejuvenating. This was a time to reflect on the message of the Stonewalk.

Our thoughts and prayers were always with the thousands of men, women and children whose lives were lost due to violence and war, especially on August 6, 1945 in Hiroshima and August 9,1945 in Nagasaki. Along the way we met the Hibakusha who talked about their horrific experiences. It was an especially moving moment when Kosou- Hina, a Midori Hibakusha, age 79, walked at the head of the caisson with Bob. Kosou’s quote,” In an instant it was like hell. There should be no more war anywhere.” was inscribed on the back of our Stonewalk t-shirts and was a constant reminder of the horrors of war.