To overcome "the harrowing past of our beloved city", it is necessary to protect the “people who are precious to us". We must accept differences "To ensure a future which will never again start wars." Two children read a commitment to peace in today's ceremony to commemorate the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Hiroshima (AsiaNews) – Below is the full text of the Commitment to Peace, read by two children, Shuka Kaneda (pictured right) and Tadahiro Ishibashi (pictured left), today at the commemoration of the 74th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

We, the children of Hiroshima, love our city.

Her slow-running rivers and natural beauty, the voices of the community, welcoming us back home from school, citizens that are ever resilient and hopeful.

Hiroshima is full of all these precious things and more.

Aug. 6, 1945

On that day, and in the days to come, hellish sights so horrific they could not be unseen unfolded: The rivers run red with blood, the mountains of debris, the people stripped of their skin, piles of corpses.

This is the harrowing past of our beloved city.

"War is a very peculiar thing; it is impossible to forget." These are the words of the hibakusha.

We carry the strong voices of the souls of the hibakusha who were all robbed of something irreplaceable,

And we will relay these voices to the next generation and to the world at large.

To ensure our harrowed past will not end as just our harrowed past.

To ensure a future which will never again start wars.

Our countries, our cultures, our histories;

Though our differences are many, one thing remains the same: the way we feel about things which are precious, people who are precious to us.

We want to protect these things, these people who are precious.

Recognizing and forgiving one another with phrases like "thank you" and "I'm sorry,"

Supporting and helping one another,

Learning about one another and making the effort to understand our differences:

These are things that even we children can do, things which will bring peace to our communities.

As children learning in our beloved Hiroshima,

We shall be considerate of one another and openly share our feelings.

We shall continue to learn of our own volition.

With our hearts and the hearts of the hibakusha as one, we shall bring the ideals of peace to the world.

Children's Representatives:

Shuka Kaneda (6th grade, Hiroshima City Ochiai Elementary School)

Tadahiro Ishibashi (6th grade, Hiroshima City Yano Elementary School)

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• atomic bomb
• hibakusha
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• children