FADE IN.
Act 1
INT. SITTING ROOM - DAY
PETER is watching TV news. We see a city in ruins on the screen.
PETER (V.O.): The people in Lebanon are really miserable. Instability, COVID-19, and now the Beirut blast.
We hear a journalist's remark: People have no confidence of the government.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): No doubt. It's always the case that those answerable and responsible let an incident to become an emergency and then into a crisis.
Images of smokes and blasts appear on the TV screen.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The destructive power of the blast is 1/10 of that of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh, it was already 75 years ago.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): One can imagine how frightened it was to the civilians living in Hiroshima back then. Over 140,000 people including children died.
Recalling.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My wife and I went to Hiroshima in 2018. We spent long hours in the Atomic Bomb Museum. I learned that the flat Hiroshima was chosen to cause maximum destruction.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Apart from taking photos, we lingered at the site where the "Little Boy" exploded.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): We had great sympathy of the deaths and sufferings of the Hiroshima population then.
Act 2
INT. STUDY - DAY
Peter checks a new phone notification.
PETER (V.O.): A Quoran asks my opinion on a hypothetical question: What would have happened if COVID-19 came in 1950?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I wasn't born yet. What were the significant events in 1950.
Peter surfs the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): What's Denmark's Tollund Man?
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It's mummified body of a man who lived less than 40 years 2400 years ago. It was found in 1950.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The man was hanged to death while being sacrificed to the gods.
Peter sighs.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): So barbaric and barbaric in prehistoric times.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): In 1950, US President Truman approved all-out development of hydrogen bombs.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The testing for the first thermonuclear device called "Mike Shot" at Eniwetok Atoll of the South Pacific in 1952 indicated that its power was roughly 1000 times larger than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
Peter looks out of the window.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Oh,1000 times! The "Little Boy" was really little then.
Peter continues to surf the web.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): US, Russia, UK, France and China are among the thermonuclear powers.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If the COVID-19 came in 1950, US might have launched an all-out research and development of coronavirus vaccines rather than on hydrogen
bombs.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Fewer people needed die unnecessarily due to the coronavirus as if they were being sacrificed to the gods in modern times.
Pondering.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): As human beings, there's no way anyone can ignore the deaths and sufferings of other humans.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): If countries would focus on public health 70 years ago, they might become civilized, and humanity should be under good control.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Despite it has infected around 19 million people in 6 continents, the coronavirus should be about to be officially declared as eradicated now ie 70 years after 1950.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Judging from the facts in 2020, it looks as though the coronavirus will never go away.
Peter begins to type his answer on the phone.
Act 3
INT. STUDY - NIGHT
Peter is watching news.
PETER (V.O.): The mainstream media are reporting about the 75th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
Watching.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Some activists want Japan to change its constitution to enable it to become a nuclear power.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Do they want to bomb North Korea or China? Or do they want to revenge against US, actually?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Can humans keep their humanity? Isn't serving humanity a significant meaning of our lives?
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): This is particularly so for those in authority. The world can't afford to be ruled by fools who don't care about humanity.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I'm a not religious person. But let's us pray for our health, and for our humanity.
THE END
FADE OUT.
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