July 29th, 2017: Hiroshima Trip

In an age of increasing civil unrest, I began folding and blogging paper cranes in order to advance the cause of peace. The inspiration was Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl, and citizen of Hiroshima, Japan, who folded 1000 cranes in the hope she would receive the gift of health after contracting leukemia. She succumbed to the illness her mother called “an atom bomb disease” in 1955, at the age of 12. Through her and a poignant book about her by Eleanor Coerr titled Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, the paper crane became an international symbol of peace and innocent victims of war. My paper cranes and I have flown through many adventures and trials, including open-heart surgery, the tragedy of police shootings, donating cranes to a Children’s hospital, and the celebration of Sadako Sasaki’s influence on the world. In Hiroshima, on August 10th, 2017, I will fold the 1000th crane on the 1000th day of the project at the Children's Peace Monument in Hiroshima, Japan. The live webcast will be dedicated to Sadako Sasaki and all innocent victims of violence. One may wonder in what way paper cranes might influence the civil unrest fomenting in our society, today. Well, I have never seen anyone frown upon receiving a crane. Also, I believe with deep sincerity that, if antagonists would hurl paper cranes at one another in lieu of more hazardous projectiles, brotherhood would advance to the detriment of casualties. To date, my site, 1000 cranes - a flight of fancy, lists the 969 cranes that have been completed, some origami patterns, my Hiroshima trip itinerary, a list of my crowd-sourced sponsors, a list of traveling cranes, a list of recipes featured in some of the crane posts, and more. This project is a non-profit effort to promote peace. 1.205.585.1238
ruben vuittonet, jr via 1000 cranes - a flight of fancy