Peace Cranes

Each year in November, students, faculty, staff, and residents of Sewanee may fold origami peace cranes to hang from the ceiling of the college library.
Folded at first in memory of Sadako Sasaki, a child victim of the suffering brought on by the nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, these paper birds fly now in memory of all the children all over the world suffering from the ravages of conflict.

Today, when these delicate and joyful bits of folded paper aflutter reminded not only of those children in distant lands, wounded and maimed and orphaned by war, but also of those here, even on the mountain, who suffer the absence or loss of parents and other relatives, wounded or killed in some of those same distant wars.

Crane-folding is a quiet reflection of personal commitment to the peace that can be won through creativity.