It is a disconcerting time: conflicts in the Middle East, in Eastern Europe, in parts of Africa. Mass shootings, stabbings, looting seemingly everywhere everyday. Unprecedented weather events. We must remember, through all the ugliness, that good people are everywhere, working to change the bad things. We are not alone.

On Friday, October 11th the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize. The prize was bestowed upon Nihon Hidankyo, a Japanese group dedicated to eliminating nuclear weapons. This grassroots movement was founded by survivors of the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan.

The survivors, known as Hibakusha, have used personal testimony to illustrate the destruction of nuclear weapons. Survivors include people in the area when the bombs were dropped, people who were present at testing sites, people who responded to the disasters and the children carried by pregnant women. It is estimated that a little over one hundred thousand survivors are still alive. Their testimony includes the horrors of the day and the following weeks. They speak of the illness that resulted, skin lesions and cancers. They speak of the families, communities and environment that was destroyed.

The work of the Nihon Hidankyo reminds us all what is possible. Their tireless efforts means that nuclear weapons have become regarded as too dangerous. Alfred Nobel believed that individuals could make a difference. We must remember that.

Read the press release from the Nobel Committee here.