The Magic of 1000 Paper Cranes

I've really had a lot of things I have wanted to blog about lately so you might get a few in a row pretty quick.

First one: Oh and everyone should know that my camera is out of batteries so I haven't been taking pictures. All I need to do is plug in my battery but I keep forgetting to. Actually, before I finish I'm going to go do that right now. Okay, done. I also plugged in my ipod which I've been needing to do as well.

Now that I'm all plugged in and charging I'll continue. Today I had the opportunity to participate in something great with a group of people who are really going to change the world. There is an adjunct professor in the Romney Institute (where I work: we are the main center for the Master of Public Administration students) named Kimball Young. He's probably in his 60's and has three different types of cancer. The MPA students took a class from him last semester and apparently really liked it and him. He is one of those entrepreneur's who started out writing obituaries but ended up making a lot of money starting businesses, and has a lot of really inspiring things to say about business and life. Anyway, the students really wanted to do something for him.

Have you ever heard the story about the little Japanese girl Sadako Sasaki who had leukemia, was really sad and lonely, and her classmates or friends or somebody decided to fold 1000 paper cranes to give her as a gift? An ancient Japanese legend promises that anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane, such as long life or recovery from illness or injury. The crane has sort of become a symbol of world peace because of the story of "Sadako and the Thousand Paper cranes". The MPA students decided to give this peace, and wish to professor Young. Out of the goodness of their hearts they organized a time and place that the students could fold paper cranes. I got to help because they needed extra help and invited the non-MPA student workers. It was so much fun. I had never made a paper crane before, but now I have mad paper crane making skills. It was just really neat to see how the students are so capable, and so good. These are our future state and local government leaders, and CEO's of Non-profit organiziations. Like I said, people who can really change the world. Maybe it shouldn't have been such a touching experience, but it was for me. On so many levels, I was inspired by it. Can you imagine how professor Young will feel when he gets 1000 paper cranes strung as 25 strands of 40 delivered to his home? It's magical.