"The Japanese outdid the Romans at Carthage (only 150,000 died in that slaughter), and even the monstrosities of Timur Lenk, who killed 100,000 prisoners at Delhi in 1398, it is shocking to contemplate that the deaths at Nanking far exceeded the deaths from American raids on Tokyo (an estimated 80,000-120,000) and even the combined death toll of the two atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the end of 1945 (estimated at 140,000 and 70,000 respectively)."

By comparing atrocities, there is a reduction in values of the lives lost and involved. They become merely a tiny statistical fraction, and there is a perceived value of the lives of those lost in a "larger" atrocity than those lost in a "lesser" atrocity. By so doing, rather than delineating the importance of understanding and studying the atrocities, it only serves to belittle the individuals who suffered by lumping them in a nicely packaged number and comparing them to another nicely packaged number much like one would dispassionately compare prices at the supermarket.

The Nanking Massacre stands as an issue that has many relevant applications for the coming century. First, appealing perhaps most to cynics, the battle over the validity of the Massacre, points to the necessity for reflection of what one has been taught in history. There still remains to be Japanese students who have not been taught

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While cynicism often leads to questioning the validity of the "truth", the luxury of cynicism is often a hallmark of age, unavailable to the young.

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comprehensively the history of their own country's role in the world's most devastating conflict. While perhaps not reaching in such a magnitude as that in Japan, in light of such an incident, thorough reexamination of one's personal knowledge of history may yield surprising results given more accurate facts. Secondly, the issue of the Massacre remains a sensitive topic in Chinese and Japanese relations and an understanding of this key matter relates to a larger global context. Japan has not paid any reparations or made any official apology to the many lives that its soldiers had taken and ruined during its imperialistic campaigns unlike Germany, who has already paid billions in reparations to the families of Holocaust victims and survivors. The stance taken by Japan towards the Massacre is also reflective of Japan's stances regarding wartime events in other Asian nations such as Korea and the nations of Southeast Asia (Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, etc.), who also bore the brunt of the imperial armies' brutal tactics. The wartime legacy of Japan has continued to produce effects in its relations with neighboring Asian nations, which until a more responsible stance is assumed, will continue to hinder interaction. Finally, the most crucial aspect of the Nanking Massacre is the preservation of the memories of those who had lost their lives needlessly and savagely; it is a study into the depths of human depravity. As each year goes by, more and more voices of both survivors and perpetrators pass away, further rousing the need to preserve the memories of those involved in such a heartrending event.

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