I’m delighted to present this first guest post at Beautiful You while I am travelling in New York. This post is by Sandy from Sandy and the 1000 Paper Cranes. Read on to learn about her inspirational project and how she is spreading positive words of peace and love.
I started brainstorming my project, later to be known as Sandy and the 1000 Paper Cranes, after reading the children’s book by Eleanor Coerr, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes. It’s a story about a young Japanese girl, Sadako, who was diagnosed with leukemia after the bombing of Hiroshima. While living in a nursing home, she decided to attempt to fold 1000 paper cranes. In Japanese folklore, anyone who folds 1000 paper cranes, (which comes from the number of years they believed a crane could live), would receive one wish. Sadako’s wish was to live. Sadly, she was not able to reach 1000 cranes before she passed away. Her friends and family rallied together to fold the remaining number of cranes so that Sadako could be buried with them.
After reading this story, I was both saddened and inspired. I wanted to do a similar project, folding 1000 cranes with a bit of a twist. My goal was to spread peace and positivity to strangers, so I decided to put a unique, positive word on each of the cranes and leave them in public places for someone to find. A year after I started compiling my positive word list, I created my blog to document my journey in “releasing” the cranes. As of the beginning of September 2010, I’ve “released” almost 50 cranes. While I have not heard anything back from anyone who has found a crane, the email responses have been overwhelmingly positive. I was not expecting the large number of people who were moved by my project and want to create peace projects of their own.
It is a lofty goal, folding that many paper cranes and leaving them in as many places as I can. But if it helps to inspire people, in a time where their level of positivity is low, then I will happily take on the challenge. Without being too whimsical or naive, I just want to spread a bit of happiness around in a relatively simple way. And hope to continue doing so in the future.
Thanks Sandy. I wish you all the best with your project. The world needs more people like you spreading messages of peace and love. I look forward to hearing from you when you have folded and placed crane number 1000.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
We made paper cranes when I was in hospital with my eating disorder. Our wish for teh 1,000 cranes we made was recovery.
Love this idea!
After reading the same book in year 7 I made 1000 paper cranes that were taken to japan by our exchange students to promote peace! It took me ages and I mostly made small ones!! Even though it is 15 years later that story still touches me!!! I think it's beautiful what you are doing!! I would love to find a crane!!!
That is the funniest thing ever – i have been doing the same thing for about a year now!
I too was inspired by the same book (& a love of origami)!
I have no doubt that the messages you leave are making a difference, perhaps not only to the day of the person who stumbles along your kind gift, but perhaps even their life!
Keep doing what you're doing – as Julie said, the world needs more of these beautiful messages of peace & love
Lovely
This is beautiful and I will have to find that book. Thank you!
goodness!
that is one mighty blog!
totally. impressed!
I will have to read this book asap!! Thanks for this post
Dana xo
http://happinessiswithin.wordpress.com/
after my friend shoshana died, all of our friends came together to make cranes for her. we were going to make 1000 but there were too many because so many people wanted to help, so we ended up making 4866 cranes: one for each day of her life. we also made origami horses because she loved horses so much. we strung them together and they're hanging in our former middle school. it's a beautiful thing, especially to see all the support we got making the cranes. it shows how many people came love her.