Document text
3 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » NEWS NOW Medford crime stats show improvement almost across the board for 2015 ... Surveillance video set to music gets leads and laughs ... Two injured in Sunny Valley shooting ... Medford crime stats show improvement almost across the board for 2015 ... Surveillance video set to music gets leads and laughs ... Two injured in Sunny Valley shooting ... After 70 years, still fighting for peace By Kaylee Tornay Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Kaylee Tornay Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 20, 2015 @ 12:01 am By Kaylee Tornay Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 20, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Social News p bs:newslist StartDate="20121121" EndDate="p bs:datecalc Months="3"" DateSort="1" UseObjects="1" ObjectClass="81" Taxonomywords="2325,665" ExactTaxonomyMatch="1" Image="1" Count="4" --> It took years for Hideko Tamura Snider to speak about the trauma she experienced in surviving the bombing of Hiroshima as a child. 70 years later, she will return to her childhood home to deliver a keynote speech at a conference, drawing upon her own experience to call for a transformed future. "Being alive is so very important," Snider said. "What happened in Hiroshima was extremely instructive." The Asian Conference on Peace, Humanitarian Aid and Service will run for two days starting Thursday, Aug. 6, the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. The conference will focus on a wide range of topics, including food security, sustainable engineering and peace and conflict resolution. Snider's speech will be the product of revelations she said she's had over the past 20 years in particular. She recalled that, for many years, no one around her wanted to talk about the bombing. Rebuilding involved silence on the part of her fellow Japanese, and what she perceived to be guilt from Americans when she came to this country in 1952. While she buried her feelings for most of her life about the destruction and the loss of her mother, Snider said her work as a psychiatric social worker was where she found her only emotional recourse. "I owe everything to my patients," she said. "Confronting what happened is really difficult for me. I'd rather not. But helping them was how I felt emotion again." In 1996 she published a book, "One Sunny Day," about the bombing, but even then, she continued to learn to understand her own feelings. In 2006, she traveled back to Hiroshima with the Ashland Peace Choir for an event at Memorial Peace Park at ground zero, and she has been involved with the annual remembrances of the bombings in Ashland and Medford. Snider's speech will focus largely on lessons to be learned from the 1945 bombings. She's far more interested in what the world will do with regard to nuclear weapons in the future than coming to a consensus about the past. "I never felt animosity about who dropped (the bomb) or why. We just need to focus on what this power does," Snider said. She referenced the biblical story of Cain and Abel as an example of the disaster that ensues when competition between humans overwhelms their obligation to "be their brother's keeper." The wounds are still not fully healed, but she sees remembrance as integral to meaningful discourse, and said that's why she was asked to speak in the city this year. "Hiroshima was the demonstration of the absolute end. All survivors, they have a duty never to forget it," Snider said. "The best battle is one where you don't have to kill anybody. There's a lot you can do before bloodshed." Reach reporting intern Kaylee Tornay at [email protected]. By Kaylee Tornay Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Kaylee Tornay Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 20, 2015 @ 12:01 am » Comment or view comments /* $( document ).ready(function() { // Jquery mobile is trying to style the button and leaving a blank gry button on top of a white button $("#viafouracoms .vf-comment-controls li.vf-right").html(' Submit '); });*/ » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. calendar Connect with MailTribune.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services Home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Announcements Obituaries Story ideas Since you asked Alerts Email Alerts RSS Feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Propel Marketing Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Mobile Site Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Your privacy is important, read our privacy policy. © Copyright 2015 Local Media Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Local Media Group Publications Original content available for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons license, except where noted. MailTribune.com | P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501