Stop and Snap the Flowers

This flower shop display reminded me of a story and a song.

Sadako Sasaki  (January 7, 1943 – October 25, 1955) was a two year old when the atomic bomb was dropped near her home in Hiroshima, Japan.  Though she survived the explosion, she developed swellings and purple spots on her body as she grew older.  She was diagnosed with leukemia and was hospitalised in early 1955.  While in the hospital, a friend of hers came to visit and cut a gold piece of paper into a square and folded it into a paper crane.  It is an ancient Japanese belief that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by the gods.  It was Sadako's wish to live and she had hoped to fold a thousand cranes.  The book Sadako and the Thousand Cranes based on her story relays that she was only able to fold 644 cranes before her death, and that her family and friends helped finish her dream by folding the rest of the cranes which were then buried with Sadako.  In 1958, a statue of Sadako holding a golden crane was unveiled in the Hiroshima Peach Memorial Park.  The plaque at the foot of the statue reads, "This is our cry. This is our prayer. For building peace in the world."

Every year on 06 August, Japan celebrates Peace Day.  On that day, the City of Hiroshima holds the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony in the hope that nuclear weapons will never be used again.  At 8:15 AM (the time of the atomic bomb's explosion), one minute of silence is observed in honour of the victims of the 1945 bombing. 

The song is entitled "Thousand Cranes" by the American band Hiroshima.  My personal favorite from that band is the song "I've Been Here Before" from their album 'GO', but that is for another day.