Sadako

Sadako and 1000 Cranes Story

Sadako Sasaki & 1000 Cranes

In 1945 the Atomic bomb dropped over Hiroshima when Sadako was two years old.  

At the age of 11, she collapsed during a race in school.  Later diagnosed with leukaemia.  She tried to fold a thousand Cranes, hoping that her wish for world peace could be granted.  By the time she died she had folded 644 Cranes.  However friends helped to complete 1000 for the funeral.

Let's imagine the pain - "Why me ?"

It is not possible to know exactly how Sadako felt at the time when leukaemia was diagnosed. However she might feel angry and asked the question ......  'Why me?'.  She might be anxious, fear of the unknown, feeling helpless and hopeless.  At 11 death seemed to be too scary and too complicated for her to face.

Waiting to die was an overwhelming feeling for Sadako.  She started folding cranes with the suggestion of a classmate.  The Japanese believe that by folding a thousand cranes, a wish will come true. Focusing on the precise folds helped her to forget about the awful feeling of waiting.  This also eased  the feeling of frustrating and boredom.  After started folding the cranes she could feel some hope. She occupied herself with something meaningful.  This helped her to replace the negative feeling with a positive one. 

Through trial and error, she found that a five square cm. piece of paper was most suitable for her to handle. After she completed folding one crane after another, she might tell herself ...... “I can do something to help” and “I am in control” .  She found a new purpose in life - folding for the aske of world peace.

In her final days, the only distraction from pain left to her was making paper cranes.  Eventually she died in her sleep.  The folding of cranes provided a meaningful purpose.  The repeating in folding provided calmness for the  final journey of a young life. 

What happened to  her was very sad for the school children.  Her friends helped to make up the 1000 cranes for the funeral.  More strength gradually generated amongst them. With the strong desire of World Peace a club was formed.  Later a monument was built in the Hiroshima Peace Park.  

Now there is a Peace Day on August 6th every year.  

Hopefully more people can see that if PEACE is not available, what will be the consequence.