Sadako

We read Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes in fourth grade. I really liked the book, but it came and went like many we read in school. Then I came into school one morning with the knowledge that my country had just entered a war, but without the knowledge of what that meant. I read an article in the paper and talked to some friends and (apparently I was ridiculously pacifistic in addition to naive) decided I did not like the war. So my group of friends that felt similarly decided we wanted to do something. We started to make 1,000 paper cranes. We planned to send them to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. We thought we could change things. I think at some point we got up to about 800, and then at some point we gave up, or realized the voices of a handful of elementary school girls probably didn't matter much to the men pulling the strings. But it was a nice thought, and a fun adventure while it lasted.