Doylestown Friends Hiroshima Bombing Observance Vigil
Nearly from the inception of their use in warfare, Doylestown Friends have actively sought to raise consciousness in their local community about nuclear weapons and the need to abolish them.
As the nuclear arms race began to spiral out of control after World War II, dismay grew within the Doylestown Friends community over the world’s increasing reliance upon manufacturing more and more nuclear weapons as a misguided means of national defense. To give words to their concerns, the Meeting began generating corporate statements on the matter. Throughout the 1950s and early 1960s these statements were published in the local newspaper.
As the 60s progressed and the Vietnam War escalated, the Meeting turned to supporting Quaker and non-Quaker conscientious objectors. But the concerns over nuclear weapons and the passion to abolish them were never far from their hearts and minds
In 1985, during the 40th anniversary of the August 6th, 1945 Hiroshima bombing, the Meeting became refocused on the issue. Upon approval that year by the Bucks County Clerk, they were able to mount an exhibit in the Bucks County Court House lobby, displaying pictorial and textual descriptions of the Hiroshima atom bomb aftermath.
In the 2000s, the Meeting began regularly participating in the International Hiroshima Vigil that was first held just in Hiroshima two years after the bombing. It takes place every year on August 6th in communities all around the world. Doylestown Meeting holds theirs at the intersection of State and Main Streets in Doylestown, while handing out peace cranes Friends have made from folded origami paper.
The making of origami peace cranes was adapted by the Hiroshima Memorial Society to memorialize the story of a little girl from Hiroshima named Sadako Sasaki. She succumbed at the age of twelve to leukemia as a result of the bomb’s radiation. Throughout her illness she folded over a thousand Peace Cranes; first in the hope that she would be cured by the practice as a Japanese legend promised, and then, when she realized this would not happen, as an act of faith and hope that the world would someday find a way to Peace.
“I will write peace on your wings and you will fly all over the world.”
It is this practice that Doylestown Meeting carries forward in preparation for August 6th and will continue to do so until the day those hopes are fulfilled and our faith rewarded.