by Alina Berezovska

Created on: May 31, 2007

The day it happened nobody really knew how devastating it could get. It was concealed from millions of people around the world. The experiment turned out to be unsuccessful and nobody knew who was to blame for it. Hundreds of people died instantly when the invisible death penetrated them. Later on people in different countries found out there was a menace coming from the Soviet Union territory.

On the 26th of April 1986 the evil was unleashed in Chernobyl, Ukraine. The fourth nuclear reactor exploded releasing radioactive materials into the atmosphere. The air currents carried those deadly materials all over Europe and were even detected in the Northern America.
When analyzing all the actions that were undertaken at the reactor, I can't help thinking that the human foolishness and lack of human sense are the main factors that led to the worst nuclear tragedy in history. If I only had a chance to change any event in history, the Ukrainian biggest blunder that cost and still costs so many innocent lives, would be ranked first in my list. And the reasons for my decision are quite obvious.
First of all, I'm tormented by the fact of how many people have already died because of the radiation and how many more will be dying gradually of cancer and thyroid gland diseases in the next 100 years.
Secondly, there is no wonder why scientists are worried about global warming that is caused by human activities. The tragedy in Chernobyl did its bit by increasing the greenhouse effect and thus causing an immense harm to the environment.
Moreover, as I've recently learned, people from all over the world know Ukraine mostly because of Chernobyl and as I can only guess their knowledge of this country is limited to: "the seclusion zone with mutants running around", "dangerous people" and "one of those former Soviet Union republics". Since I'm a Ukrainian myself, one can only imagine how painful it's for me to hear that. It has always been my dream to remove this ugly stain from my country's history and if I only could prevent something that could have been prevented, but wasn't because of a devil-may-care attitude of the Soviet authorities and because of a bunch of people who dared to "gamble" risking to loose millions of lives.
I do hope that the humanity is able to take all the mistakes made into consideration and will not let the nuclear pandemonium reign over the planet again. Double checking and constant attention is required to ensure security, peace and harmony for future generations.
To alleviate sorrows we all have to see the clear prospective. To see the prospective, we have to make a plan and cooperate. To cooperate effectively, everybody involved has to care. Only if we care, shall we be able to commemorate those who deceased. And keeping their suffers in mind, we have to move towards the future. Where the Chernobyl tragedy is only a memory.

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