By Vera Grant AMMM                                           Ireland                                01.08.2026

“Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  We say it every day, maybe more than once a day, but do we forgive those who have hurt us in whatever way?

This thought has resonated with me since reading about the anniversary of VJ Day (Victory over Japan Day) on August 15th.  There is also VE Day (Victory in Europe).  However the latter does not name it as victory over Nazi Germany.

Germany, whilst not named, has apologised and by the actions of the Chancellors, Willy Brandt, followed by Angela Merkel, in opening their country to the migrants have shown true remorse for their attempt to eradicate Judaism. Has the world forgiven them or is it reminded every year on VE Day of the atrocities in their country?

Japan is named and that must be so hard for its people to be singled out and yet there is a long history. In China where I taught for a year, 2013 – 2014, I was shocked at the strength of feeling in young people against the Japanese.  Japan’s occupation and the massacre that happened in her capital city, Nanjing, is one of China’s darkest moments. For those of us in the West who watched the film ‘The Bridge On The River Kwai’ it brought home the harshness and cruelty of the Japanese Military.

What has made it fester in China is the view that Japan has never admitted responsibility, nor did they ever truly apologise for their brutal campaign. When the Chinese say “We are not friends, we never were”, there is no forgetting or forgiving.

Japan has made some apologies but not enough for the Chinese people who feel it is lacking in sincerity especially when they say that they didn’t invade but went to help China build a new order.

The question has now to be asked of America, who, to this day, has never apologised for their use of nuclear bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I was there and visited both memorials. It was a very sad and emotional Journey and brought home the suffering and devastation of the people and their land.

America feels justified in that they had no choice after the attack on Pearl Harbour to bring an end to the war. They succeeded when Japan surrendered in 1945.

It all seems a very long time ago and still today we have the ongoing 4-year war after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and more recently America’s war on Iran…justified again by the president to halt the deployment of nuclear weapons ….those very same weapons that were used against Japan.

Nothing has changed, there seems to no forgetting or forgiveness and do the VJ Day commemorations only heighten the horrors of war, fuelling anger and hatred?

The world seems a scary place and we ask ourselves “what can we do?”