Issue 39 - Choices

Welcome to Issue 39 of Deep Life Reflections—and a special welcome to new subscribers. In this edition, titled Choices, we explore John Hersey’s powerful account of resilience in Hiroshima, recognise the bravery and selflessness of staff in Hotel Mumbai, and contemplate a question that defines our very existence. Join me as we explore this week’s Friday Five.

1. What I’m Reading

Hiroshima. By John Hersey.

On the morning of August 6, 1945, at exactly 8:15am, the world’s first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, home to 245,000 residents. Witnesses described it as a sheet of sun flashing across the sky. Almost no-one recalls hearing any noise. Instantly, the bomb killed 78,000 people, and reduced most of the city to ruins.

John Hersey, among the first Western journalists to witness the aftermath, documented the event in his 1946 book Hiroshima—originally an article in The New Yorker. It tells what happened on the day through the memories of six survivors.

We are dropped into the lives of six individuals: a widowed seamstress, a young factory worker, a Protestant minister, two doctors, and a German Catholic priest. Hersey describes what each was doing on the morning before the bomb was dropped. We follow them as their lives come together, sharing in the unimaginable devastation of those first 24 hours: the city a ball of flame, parks filled with radiation rain and whirlwinds.

Hersey’s writing is powerful and compassionate, documenting the survivors’ struggles to endure and help each other. He recounts selfless acts and quiet dignity amid chaos; survivors, for example, repeating “Excuse me” as they step over the injured, carrying water to those in dire need.

While the six survivors had different feelings about their experiences and of the use of the atomic bomb, they shared a sense of elated community spirit—a pride in their collective resilience, as Hersey notes. With over three million copies sold and never being out of print, Hiroshima remains a landmark work on the devastation of war and the conscience of our humanity.  

2. What I’m Watching

Hotel Mumbai. Directed by Anthony Maras.

At the five-star Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, “guest is God”. These words, spoken by Head chef Oberoi to his staff as they prepare their dinner service, take on a horrifying significance over the following two hours. Hotel Mumbai recounts the heroic efforts of the Taj hotel staff to help their guests survive a four-day siege by four gunmen intent on a massacre. The attack was part of a coordinated series of attacks across Mumbai by the terror group, Lashkar-e-Taiba.

The film is based on hundreds of hours of interviews with survivors and witnesses. They inspired director Anthony Maras to honour the stories of courage and selflessness in the face of appalling violence. We watch Taj kitchen workers improvise bulletproof vests from baking trays, shielding guests from machine-gun fire. Other staff led guests through hidden corridors to safety outside, only to re-enter the hotel and look for more people to rescue.

It’s a fraught and often distressing watch. That ‘only’ 31 people died at the Taj out of the approximately 450 guests is a testament of the staff’s courageous conduct. If you’re curious about the values and organisational culture that motivated the Taj employees, there’s an excellent article called ‘The Ordinary Heroes of the Taj’ by the Harvard Business Review.

In 2012, I visited Mumbai, including the Taj, where a memorial in the lobby honours the victims. Reflecting on a photo I took from my visit, I learned that President Barack Obama was the first foreign head of state to stay at the hotel following the attack. He said, “the Taj has been the symbol of the strength and the resilience of the Indian people.” It’s a fitting tribute.

3. What I’m Contemplating

Last weekend, friends invited me to a Diwali dinner at their home. Diwali is a festival of light celebrated in South Asian cultures. After a delicious meal (albeit one where I should have stopped eating twenty minutes earlier) we sat in the garden and talked, continuing our conversations around the symbolic theme of Diwali—the triumph of light over darkness.

Eventually, someone raised the age-old classic question, “What’s the meaning of life?”

When it came to my response, I changed one word in the question before answering. A subtle, but important distinction: “What’s the meaning in life?” With the question reset, I gave my thoughts in five words: To be meaningful to others.

You may have something completely different (and I’d love to hear them), but these five simple words sum up my values and principles, and why I created Deep Life Journey and this newsletter, Deep Life Reflections. We can all strive to be meaningful to others. Whether through small acts like listening more closely to a friend or considering an alternative perspective, to endeavours that better humanity. And many more things in between. It doesn’t have to be grand. It just has to be genuine.  

The selfless actions in the wake of the devastation of Hiroshima and the terror in Mumbai show the importance of the choices we make to be meaningful to others.

4. A Quote to note

“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”

- Arthur Ashe, Tennis Champion

5. A Question for you

Can you recall a moment from this week where you chose to play a meaningful role in someone’s life, even in the smallest of ways, and what impact did it have on you and the other person?

This week’s featured image is a photo I took of the Taj Hotel in Mumbai in November 2012. The hotel reopened after restoration on August 15, 2010.

Sharing and Helpful Links

Want to share this issue of Deep Life Reflections via text, social media, or email? Just copy and paste this link:

https://www.deeplifejourney.com/deep-life-reflections/november-17-2023

And if you have a friend, family member, or colleague who you think would also enjoy Deep Life Reflections, simply copy, paste and send them this subscription link:

https://www.deeplifejourney.com/subscribe

Don’t forget to check out my website, Deep Life Journey, for full content on my Pillars, Perspectives & Photography.

And you can read all previous issues of Deep Life Reflections here.

Thanks for reading and being part of the Deep Life Journey community. Have a great weekend.

James