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Tonight on the local news in Portland, Oregon there was a story about a local woman who has found a special way to honor and remember the U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. Every time a soldier has been reported killed she writes the soldier's name, age and hometown on a piece of colored paper and then folds the paper using a simple origami folding pattern she found on the Internet. Today, she folded a bright orange crane with the help of her 8 year old daughter in honor of Lance Cpl. Greg Rund, 21, from Littleton, Colorado. Rund had been a freshman at Columbine High School when two fellow students killed 13 people.
After completing the crane, she attached it to a string of cranes that hang from her mantle by the Christmas tree. Each "flock of guardian angels", as she calls them, holds 50 paper birds. There are now 26 "flocks" attached to her mantle. She never believed there would be so many. More than 1,300 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq since the war started.
She said it is very easy to turn off the sad news that comes from Iraq almost daily or choose not to think about it, but the people who gave their lives there deserve our attention and respect, regardless of our personal views on the war. Every time she has created a new origami crane, she and her two children say a prayer that all the soldiers will return soon and that peace will find a home in Iraq.
In ancient Japan people believed the crane lived a thousand years. And there is an old legend that if you fold a thousand paper cranes, the gods will grant your wish. In recent times, people throughout the world have been touched by the true story of Sadako Sasaki, a young Japanese girl from Hiroshima who developed leukemia in 1955 as a result of the atomic bomb. Sadako began folding a thousand cranes in hopes she would be well again.
http://www.sadako.org/sadakostory.htm
Just thought I'd share this with everybody.
Beloric
"Well, it seemed like fun at 3am..."
The idea is nice. Wouldn't mind a crane pattern.
Peace will be achieved when all the bad guys are dead. Otherwise we have failed. Our troops are doing a great job. 1300 sounds like a lot of soldiers, but this is very, very low if you have any knowledge of the history of warfare.
Bad news does seem to be what our news enjoys telling, but there is more good going on there than bad. Just good news doesn't sell well.
Lets not focus to much attention on the death, because history will judge all things equal, and history is what we are making.
Gidske
Peace will be achieved when all the bad guys are dead. Otherwise we have failed. Our troops are doing a great job. 1300 sounds like a lot of soldiers, but this is very, very low if you have any knowledge of the history of warfare.
Bad news does seem to be what our news enjoys telling, but there is more good going on there than bad. Just good news doesn't sell well.
Lets not focus to much attention on the death, because history will judge all things equal, and history is what we are making.
Gidske
>Peace will be achieved when all the bad guys are dead. Otherwise we have failed.
This might be true, or possible, if you assume that no new 'bad guys' are being recruited or motivated to join the opposition. This also assumes absolute knowledge in identifying who is a bad guy and who is a good guy, which noone has. It might be more accurate to say that peace will be achieved when the rate of recruitment is less than the rate of elimination.
>Our troops are doing a great job. 1300 sounds like a lot of soldiers, but this is very, very low if you have any knowledge of the history of warfare.
Previous conflicts are irrelevant standards by which to judge body counts. One dead soldier or one dead civilian is too many.
>Bad news does seem to be what our news enjoys telling, but there is more good going on there than bad. Just good news doesn't sell well.
By any objective standard, the situation over there is a catastrophe. American media are too biased on one side or the other to be objective; take a survey of world opinion for a more balanced view.
>Lets not focus to much attention on the death, because history will judge all things equal, and history is what we are making.
History does not judge all things equally, and in particular it judges those who would dismiss, conceal, or trivialize death rather harshly.
This might be true, or possible, if you assume that no new 'bad guys' are being recruited or motivated to join the opposition. This also assumes absolute knowledge in identifying who is a bad guy and who is a good guy, which noone has. It might be more accurate to say that peace will be achieved when the rate of recruitment is less than the rate of elimination.
>Our troops are doing a great job. 1300 sounds like a lot of soldiers, but this is very, very low if you have any knowledge of the history of warfare.
Previous conflicts are irrelevant standards by which to judge body counts. One dead soldier or one dead civilian is too many.
>Bad news does seem to be what our news enjoys telling, but there is more good going on there than bad. Just good news doesn't sell well.
By any objective standard, the situation over there is a catastrophe. American media are too biased on one side or the other to be objective; take a survey of world opinion for a more balanced view.
>Lets not focus to much attention on the death, because history will judge all things equal, and history is what we are making.
History does not judge all things equally, and in particular it judges those who would dismiss, conceal, or trivialize death rather harshly.
>take a survey of world opinion for a more balanced view.
Since when did world opinion concern American policy, American interest? Most of the world is living in third world poverty. Opinion is reflected by envy at what America has and can do without so much as a nevermind to anyone.
Arrogance is our hallmark; it is nothing to be ashamed of.
Gidske
Since when did world opinion concern American policy, American interest? Most of the world is living in third world poverty. Opinion is reflected by envy at what America has and can do without so much as a nevermind to anyone.
Arrogance is our hallmark; it is nothing to be ashamed of.
Gidske
This thread, like so many others on the boards, turned into something completely useless.
I just wanted to share something that touched me in RL, so, it quite naturally had to be twisted and deformed to better fit DR dementia...
"Origami crane, weapon of mass confusion" would have been a better subject title, now that I think about it.
Beloric
"Well, it seemed like fun at 3am..."
I just wanted to share something that touched me in RL, so, it quite naturally had to be twisted and deformed to better fit DR dementia...
"Origami crane, weapon of mass confusion" would have been a better subject title, now that I think about it.
Beloric
"Well, it seemed like fun at 3am..."
>I just wanted to share something that touched me in RL, so, it quite naturally had to be twisted and deformed to better fit DR dementia...
You are the one who made the political statement in post 1310, disquised as concern for our troops.
I feel concern to for our troops too, but my perspective on the war isn't about peace. It is about winning our objective first, then peace afterwards.
I'm all for a crane pattern that honors our forces, but not in the cause of peace or war, but for what those soldiers are getting up every day to do, the hard stuff.
Gidske
You are the one who made the political statement in post 1310, disquised as concern for our troops.
I feel concern to for our troops too, but my perspective on the war isn't about peace. It is about winning our objective first, then peace afterwards.
I'm all for a crane pattern that honors our forces, but not in the cause of peace or war, but for what those soldiers are getting up every day to do, the hard stuff.
Gidske
>I just wanted to share something that touched me in RL, so, it quite naturally had to be twisted and deformed to better fit DR dementia...
And a lovely, touching story it was. I apologize for taking Gidske's bait and continuing the political element of this thread. But I can't let that stuff just slip by without comment.
And a lovely, touching story it was. I apologize for taking Gidske's bait and continuing the political element of this thread. But I can't let that stuff just slip by without comment.
>You are the one who made the political statement in post 1310, disquised as concern for our troops.
Actually Beloric's initial post merely reported a story about a lady in Portland. I've read the post over a few times just now and there isn't a shred of personal opinion stated in it. You and I are the ones making the political statements in this thread ;)
>I feel concern to for our troops too, but my perspective on the war isn't about peace. It is about winning our objective first, then peace afterwards.
Funny, I thought it's been 'mission accomplished' over there for more than a year? In any case, one of the stated US objectives is a lasting peace in the region.
Actually Beloric's initial post merely reported a story about a lady in Portland. I've read the post over a few times just now and there isn't a shred of personal opinion stated in it. You and I are the ones making the political statements in this thread ;)
>I feel concern to for our troops too, but my perspective on the war isn't about peace. It is about winning our objective first, then peace afterwards.
Funny, I thought it's been 'mission accomplished' over there for more than a year? In any case, one of the stated US objectives is a lasting peace in the region.
For most of the soldiers over there it?s not about peace or politics. It?s about surviving from moment to moment day to day, and forefront on your mind during most of the time you can relax is home. Very few want to be there and would gladly return home to their families and the security of being on your home soil.
If you want to support your troops send a care package. Little things like that mean more than even the recipient realizes at the time.
Those who have never been on foreign soil in a hostile country where you are unwelcome have no basis or point of reference to even have a discussion.
For the men and women who are there I hope that they return home safely, and in the years to come that they will find peace within themselves.
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away, and you have their shoes.
If you want to support your troops send a care package. Little things like that mean more than even the recipient realizes at the time.
Those who have never been on foreign soil in a hostile country where you are unwelcome have no basis or point of reference to even have a discussion.
For the men and women who are there I hope that they return home safely, and in the years to come that they will find peace within themselves.
Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away, and you have their shoes.
>Funny, I thought it's been 'mission accomplished' over there for more than a year? In any case, one of the stated US objectives is a lasting peace in the region.
Mission accomplished does not mean war over. There are a variety of missions inside a war. Lasting peace comes at the end of victory, whether it involves an atomic bomb (Japan) or leveling cities with bombers (Germany). Not by peace (Korea today) or pulling out before you are done (Vietnam).
Peace doesn't just 'happen' because folks want it to. It comes at a cost.
Nobody wants to go to war, but nobody is forced to join the military either. They call it the military for a reason. If they did peaceful things, it would be called, the Peace Corp.
Gidske
Mission accomplished does not mean war over. There are a variety of missions inside a war. Lasting peace comes at the end of victory, whether it involves an atomic bomb (Japan) or leveling cities with bombers (Germany). Not by peace (Korea today) or pulling out before you are done (Vietnam).
Peace doesn't just 'happen' because folks want it to. It comes at a cost.
Nobody wants to go to war, but nobody is forced to join the military either. They call it the military for a reason. If they did peaceful things, it would be called, the Peace Corp.
Gidske
It's really amazing to me how many people are upset that a woman in Oregon folds paper.
You can never predict where a thread will go but this one has, at least for me, been a good laugh.
Fold, fold, fold, fold, fold...
Oh, look, I made a crane!
"I'm sorry Ma'am but folding cranes is strictly forbidden and you'll have to put your hands behind your back now... You have the right..."
Beloric
"Well, it seemed like fun at 3am..."
You can never predict where a thread will go but this one has, at least for me, been a good laugh.
Fold, fold, fold, fold, fold...
Oh, look, I made a crane!
"I'm sorry Ma'am but folding cranes is strictly forbidden and you'll have to put your hands behind your back now... You have the right..."
Beloric
"Well, it seemed like fun at 3am..."
