All travel is, or at least can be, educational, in its way. On this trip, we've learned about about the environment, global climate change, and the local flora and fauna of the places we've visited. We've also created a bit of an overarching theme of world peace, especially in looking back at the second World War. One of our first stops was in Honolulu, where we paid our respects at Pearl Harbor. We are now in Japan, where we've come to Hiroshima, to mourn at the memorial for the victims of the atomic bomb.
The memorial is a very powerful place, and has been created as an eternal prayer for the souls of the victims of the bomb, WWII, and a prayer for peace in general. The thought of all of the innocent people killed in an instant by the atomic bomb is heartbreaking. As is the thought that the war itself was horrific with no end in sight and something needed to be done to stop it.
The book Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes tells a fictionalized version of the true story of a young Hiroshima girl who survied the war but became ill with leukemia as a result of the radiation from the fallout from the bomb. There is a legend of the idea that if someone folds a thousand oragami cranes, whatever they wish for will come true. Despite folding more than 1,300 paper cranes, Sadako still passed away as a young teenager. Sadako came to symbolize the stolen childhoods and all the young victims of war, and a memorial is included in the Peace Park in Hiroshima. People from all over the world fold cranes to leave here, including President Obama when he visited a few years ago. Miriam made cranes for us, and she and Hans each left one in the memorial this morning.
We were just telling Aralia about Hiroshima yesterday, so reading this post today, was reinforcing and good timing. We will get the book about Sadako from the library. We are enjoying reading your posts. Looking forward to seeing you this month!
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