“Freedom is the right to live as we wish” says Epictetus.

The right to live is one of the human

rights we are born with and can’t be taken from us unless legally admitted. In his novel,
Hiroshima, John Hersey wrote about America’s nuclear bomb attack on Japan that took away
many people’s right to live and freedom to exercise peace.
To start with, the author introduced his novel with a little bit of context about the
characters, who were later the only survivors of the destruction, few moments before the
bombing. As the writer introduced the first character of his novel along with expressing
the character’s distress before the bombing, as he wrote, “He had heard uncomfortably
detailed accounts of mass raids on Kure, Iwakuni, Tokuyama, and other nearby towns; he
was sure Hiroshima’s turn would come soon. He had slept badly the night before,
because there had been several air-raid warnings.” (Hersey, J. Hiroshima. New York,
A.A. Knopf 1946). Hersey has discussed about the constant sirens and warning that had
been going on in Hiroshima for the safety of its residence meanwhile disturbing their
peaceful life. The U.S’ revenge play on Japan for the pearl Harbor bombing put the
Japanese citizens of the Hiroshima city in constant distress and anxious living as the
people had to keep expecting the bombing to occur since they did not know when the
U.S. would do it. This shows how the people’s right to live is constantly being put to test
and their freedom to exercise peace has been seized from them. One issue from the
United states that also supports this human rights issue would be from the BBC news as
they mentioned, “An elderly Thai immigrant dies after being shoved to the ground. A
Filipino-American is slashed in the face with a box cutter. A Chinese woman is slapped
and then set on fire. Eight people are killed in a shooting rampage across three Asian
spas in one night.” (“Covid 'Hate Crimes' against Asian Americans on Rise.” BBC News,
BBC, 21 May 2021, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-56218684.). The news
has mentioned how the all types of Asians have been received death threats because of
the virus outbreak that originated from a single country. People from Thailand, the
Philippines and many other islands and countries, who have come to the Americas have
been risking their lives due to the minority’s judgements against these people. Their right
to live is being questioned just because the virus originated from a country they are from.
Right to live and lead a free and peaceful life is not something that can just be taken
away nor threatened.