Umbrellas, Mushrooms, Clouds - Radiation

Umbrellas, mushrooms and clouds can conjure up an image of an early fall stroll, on a damp day, in the country.

Umbrellas, mushrooms, clouds, can also instantly call up terrifying images of a world gone wrong.

My generation, of Canadians, grew up under the "nuclear umbrella" of the United States. We were and are a nuclear weapon free country. We do possess a little moral authority, as we  have no weapons of mass destruction here, by choice. We have the uranium, the expertise but not the will as a people, to join that dangerous atomic club.

The comfort of living under the American umbrella, at times isn't all that comforting. The big boys don't always play by the rules. There we are lying, in all our naked glory, between the world's most aggressive powers. Where do you think the mighty missiles would land, as missiles surged from the Russian north over our home and native land, towards the mainland states and in return whizzed back at Russia. The "nuclear umbrella" would be as useful as my little, pink, silk parasol. Thank goodness that war was cold.

The sight of a towering, threatening force of destruction  growing in moments into a billowing mushroom monster still fills me with fear. Not one city, but two Japanese cities were melted, people and all, to bring an end to the Second World War. We watched reel after reel of the events between the cartoons and cowboy pictures at the Saturday Matinees at the Roxy.

Then came the films of the above ground testing, in the American desserts, as the arms raced. Radio broadcasts alerted us to the ripples of radiation that circled out from the blasts to cover the world with teeny tiny drops of destruction that became radiated rain. This was when we really needed the umbrellas, but they were not forthcoming.

Oh, the clouds. I was lucky enough to be passing through Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania on my way from Toronto to Washington, during the partial meltdown at their nuclear plant. I was in France when Chernobyl blew. I wanted nothing of threatening clouds moving this way and that.  Something is wrong.

Japan, the country that has suffered most from mushrooms, umbrellas and clouds, up close, chose to harness the power of the atom for peaceful purposes- clean energy, miracles of medicine and uses as yet unimagined. Look what is happening.

Today, the peoples of the world wait as one, to hear the news of human failure to control the uncontrollable in their land. Great minds of the world are focussed on solving a crucial puzzle. Our hearts are with the Japanese and fear is with us as a cloud will pass over each one of us.

I think I'll go check the medicine cabinet to see if I still have those tiny iodine pills that were purchased in what seemed more dangerous times.