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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Peace plan

Local writer and artist Stan Hughes believes that making a simple paper crane could be the catalyst for world peace

Story By Jennifer Larue, Correspondent

Peace on earth and good will to men is something we have all wished for as children, as Miss America hopefuls and as humans.

If everyone wants it, why hasn’t it happened? Is it even attainable?

Local writer, artist and retired school principal Stan Hughes believes that it is. To promote peace locally, he recommends practicing random acts of kindness. Globally, he suggests making paper cranes.

The concept of paper cranes representing peace started after the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. An 11-year-old Japanese girl named Sadako Sasaki was diagnosed with cancer caused by the bomb.

For centuries, in Japan, paper cranes were folded to make wishes come true: 1,000 for each wish. And so she folded them, hundreds of them, wishing to get well.

Sasaki died in October 1955. Statues have been created in her honor and books have been written on variations of the story. The universal wish of world peace now lives within 1,000 paper cranes.

In the Spokane Valley, Hughes has about 500 in hand, with a goal of 1,000 now and thousands more to come.

The first 1,000 will be shipped in a box to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran. Hughes plans to send the next 1,000 to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and more to North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

“It is my hope that the warriors receiving the cranes will realize all the work going into the project and will appreciate that some Americans are trying to communicate a prayer for peace between our countries,” he says.

“I know the recipients I have in mind are aware of the meaning of the gesture.”

Hughes is hoping to get people to fold some origami cranes and send them his way.

“I have talked about this project on Internet radio and about 400 paper cranes have arrived from concerned people from Seattle to Tennessee,” he says.

“One lady sent me almost 300 of all sizes and colors she had folded. Now that is a believer.”

That “believer” is Patty Stone, who lives in Kent, Wash. She heard Hughes’ plea on the radio and responded immediately.

“I’ve always made origami cranes to keep my fingers nimble and for blessings,” she says. “I sent Stan about 300 and others have gone to friends.

“What he’s doing is about coming together for a purpose. We all want peace.”

Hughes, who is part Native American, was born on Yakama Indian territory and grew up in the Black Hills of South Dakota. He spent time on the Yakama Reservation and the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Today, he is a member of the Lutheran Church, though he remains loyal to Native American spirituality. In an article about his artistic endeavors that appeared in The Spokesman-Review’s Voice sections in June, Hughes said:

“I really believe Native American spirituality has a lot to offer people searching for some deeper meaning to life. It may be the oldest and the most ‘pure’ of all the forms of religion.

“I have been able to carry this belief in one hand and my Christian belief in the other. I guess I have become a spiritual melting pot,” he said, adding that he focuses on the commonalities rather than the differences: “It’s the differences that cause the strife.”

Some world leaders also believe that the acceptance of differences would benefit the cause of peace.

On CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Dec. 12, the ticker tape read: “Rare joint interview with top Middle Eastern leaders.”

King spoke with Salam Fayad, prime minister of the Palestinian National Authority, and Israeli Defense Minister Eduh Barak, as well as American businessmen from Israel and Palestine. They agreed that tolerance and acceptance of one another would be the key as they and the United States “look for a new strategy for peace.”

“We need to start from the bottom up, not from the top to the bottom,” one of the businessmen said, referring to the idea that it will be people of generations to come that will bring change. “We need to promote tolerance.”

Tolerance and paper cranes are simple but powerful concepts that start with one act at a time.

“Honestly, is there anything we can do about making this massively overwhelming world safer and kinder? It seems so hopeless,” Hughes says. “But a little bit from a lot of people makes a lot of cranes.”

Or a lot of random acts of kindness, and therefore change and perhaps world peace.