When I was in 5th grade, a woman named Ako Hotehama visited us from Japan. She taught us the story of Sadako, and showed us how to fold paper cranes. My class folded as many as we could (I folded hundreds by myself), and sent them back with her to place at the Children's Monument in Hiroshima. I never did know whatever became of Ako or the cranes.
Then, this summer, I had the opportunity to go to Hiroshima. I remembered the story of Sadako, and as I stood by the monument, I started to tear up. I only had 75 cranes to offer this time-- not the hundreds I'd made in the past-- but it was something.
Fast forward to the current time. My students have read Sadako's story. They've read all about everything from the Treaty of Versailles to the Manhattan Project. They can tell you all about the horrors of war. And they, like myself, wanted to make Sadako's wish come true.
As of yesterday, we did it-- we folded 1,000 cranes. Over a thousand, actually.
So, I'm sending them to Japan. Stringing them in garlands of a hundred, packing them in a box, and shipping them to Sadako's monument.
My students are leaving hundreds upon hundreds of messages of hope and peace, and even more importantly-- they can become part of something bigger. When the cranes reach Japan, our class information will be put in the national registry, and my students will forever be able to look up our class and, for once, be proud of something that's left the classroom instead of just something that happens within it.
1 comment:
I started tearing up just reading this. Being part of something bigger is so important. It's so wonderful that your students got that message from you.
M
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