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fter assembling 1,000 paper cranes from our R&S members, one family traveled to Santa Fe to honor the Buddhist monks from Japan making an
epic march with the atomic torch to the Trinity Test Site in New Mexico. We met the monks at the Children’s Peace Memorial at 11am on August 7th. Sammi, Jacob, Mikal, Alexandra, and I paraded the giant peace dove up to the memorial, while Hanna carried the 1,000 paper cranes, strung together in groups of 40 – 75 (depending on size). The strings of cranes were attached at the top to a large white crane that had been signed by many of our Roots & Shoots kids, some of whom wrote their names in Japanese at the August 5th R&S presentation of Japanese culture and cooking. The
monks, two of whom spoke no English, were enchanted to see the kids’ Japanese characters, as well as to hear Sammi say “Konichiwa” as we were introduced. The monks hung the large peace crane on the memorial, which was already draped with many strings of cranes from a peace day celebration the day prior, and chanted a prayer for global peace. They decided to carry the 1,000 cranes with them to the closing ceremony at the Trinity
Site on the 9th, where they were wrapped in a special prayer cloth created by Head Monk Rev. Daijo Ota of the Kotaiji temple in Nagasaki, and then united with the Atomic Flame in representation of every child who has ever folded a crane over the past 60 years. “That their innocent hope for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons will enter in a new 60 year circle that will see the end of fear and destruction in the world that we live in,” explained Matt Taylor, co-executive director of the Nuclear Disarmament Fund, and producer of a movie about the march.
monks, two of whom spoke no English, were enchanted to see the kids’ Japanese characters, as well as to hear Sammi say “Konichiwa” as we were introduced. The monks hung the large peace crane on the memorial, which was already draped with many strings of cranes from a peace day celebration the day prior, and chanted a prayer for global peace. They decided to carry the 1,000 cranes with them to the closing ceremony at the Trinity 
Site on the 9th, where they were wrapped in a special prayer cloth created by Head Monk Rev. Daijo Ota of the Kotaiji temple in Nagasaki, and then united with the Atomic Flame in representation of every child who has ever folded a crane over the past 60 years. “That their innocent hope for peace and a world free of nuclear weapons will enter in a new 60 year circle that will see the end of fear and destruction in the world that we live in,” explained Matt Taylor, co-executive director of the Nuclear Disarmament Fund, and producer of a movie about the march.
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