In 2018, the average age of a Hibakusha (被爆者) — the Japanese word for a survivor of the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki — is eighty-one. When you speak with these survivors, you’ll most likely hear the story of what it feels like to have an atomic bomb dropped on you as a six-year-old child.

Experts say six is the age kids first begin to process the concept of time. Time, the impact it has on our memories, our priorities, and our sense of responsibility for the crimes of our governments, is something I’ve been thinking about a lot.

Veterans for Peace sponsored Marine Force Recon veteran Michael Hanes, our translator Rachel Clark, and myself on a goodwill trip to Japan. I’m a two-tour veteran of the US war and occupation of Afghanistan with the Seventy-Fifth Ranger Regiment.