Luck May Have It (Both Ways)

So, this guy. This guy, 93-year-old Tsutomu Yamaguchi, has been certified as a survivor of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima—and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. The AP reports that Yamaguchi visited Hiroshima for a business trip and suffered severe upper-body burns in the first detonation, after which he returned to Nagasaki just in time for the second attack.

My pal Casey is the one sent me the link, adding “Talk about being an unlucky bastard.” I beg to differ. The guy survived TWO NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS. Doesn’t that qualify him instead as a lucky bastard? It’s a wash, really. Yamaguchi was unlucky enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong (right?) time — twice. And he was lucky enough to live through it — twice. The lucky and the unlucky cancel each other out, so I guess that basically negates the whole thing. He’s just a man. And after all, he has lived to be 93. So how bad could it really be?

~ by JT on March 24, 2009.