The paper crane has become an international symbol of peace in recent years as a result of it's connection to the story of a young Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki born in 1943. Sadako was two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1955, at age 11, while practicing for a big race, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with Leukemia, "the atom bomb" disease.
Sadako's best friend told her of an old Japanese legend which said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes would be granted a wish. Sadako hoped that the gods would grant her a wish to get well so that she could run again. She started to work on the paper cranes and completed over 1000 before dying on October 25, 1955 at the age of twelve.
On Tuesday, I went to visit Amy in the hospital. She is not doing very well. Her tumors have grown back since the radiation and the chemotherapy is not reducing her cancer. Instead, her cancer is spreading. She is on a lot of pain medication. When she is awake, she spends time in the craft room making crafts, which she loves to do. Her whole room is decorated for Christmas. I spent the evening with her on Tuesday.
On the way out of the hospital, I noticed a large Christmas tree in the lobby.
As I looked closely, I realized that the tree was decorated...
...with paper cranes.
1 comment:
We want to live in our little bubble with our hands over our ears and eyes closed so that we can filter everything that we or our families are exposed to. We think that if we are not aware of its existence, it must not be there at all. It makes us so incredibly uncomfortable to deal with the reality of cruel world and not be able to understand the reasons why it has to be this way. There is nothing we can do to prevent others from hurting and there is a definate consequence to every action or reaction. We are growing older now and we are realizing that we absolutely need to take the time to think about people that we do not know and how they could be effected by our decisions today. We may never know them and they might not ever be aware of our existance, but the least we could do is live our lives depicting hope and love towards those we do encounter so that it might trickle down the line and somehow help others. Life on earth so short, whether you live to be 80 or 12. It is how we live it in the eyes of others that carries on when we are gone. That is the most important thing.
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