A Thousand Cranes

Sadako Sasaki was only two years old when an atomic bomb was dropped one kilometer away from her home in Hiroshima. It's said there was a blinding white light that flashed across the city, a loud boom that could be heard from miles away, followed by fires that lit up the city streets, and black rain that fell from the sky. Fortunately, despite being so close to the blast, Sadako and her family miraculously survived.

While her life would never be normal, for 10 years after the bombing, she grew up enjoying her childhood in health. She was popular with her classmates and known to be a fast runner. However, in 6th grade at 12 years old, she developed swellings on her neck behind her ears and spots of blood on her legs, being diagnosed with leukemia.

After she was hospitalized, she received an origami crane from the Red Cross to wish her health and found out about the legend from her father. As the crane is considered a mystical creature that is said to live for a thousand years, the legend was if someone folded one thousand paper cranes, one for each year of the crane's life, they would be granted one wish.

After hearing of the legend, Sadako began folding paper cranes in her spare time at the hospital and filled her room with hundreds of origami cranes of all different colors and sizes, some as small as a grain of rice. When she ran out of paper, she used medicine wrappings, get-well presents, and whatever else she could find.

After folding her thousandth crane, Sadako made her wish to be healthy again. Even though there weren't any signs of improvement, she didn't lose her faith in the cranes. Perhaps it was because she had nothing else to hope for, but she continued to fold paper cranes with all her energy until her last moments.

Sadly, after 8 months in the hospital, her condition worsened, passing away in the company of her family. Her wish would never come true. At the time of her passing, there were 1,300 paper cranes with many hanging from the ceiling and others scattered across the room. Later, the cranes were buried with her.

Since her death, she has become a symbol of faith, hope, and peace for people all over the world. Three years after Sadako's death, the Children's Peace Monument was built in her honor at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park where children from all over the world continue to send folded cranes to be placed under Sadako's statue.