The World/Steemit/individuals need a little more peace in their lives-Japanese Peace Garden-Spirit of Peace Sculpture-Minneapolis Public Garden

Japanese peace bridge. The Bridge zig-zags because as the old Japanese tradition states evil spirits only walk in straight lines.

I have to give major consideration to Hive account@stellabelle for writing some inspirational words although she may not of known it. And I am paraphrasing , you can see it here I think, but she made a pact with her creativity that whatever it shows to her, she will bring forth into the world. We could all use a little more peace in our lives, and I may not have made a pact, but I had an experience today at the beautiful Japanese Peace Park here in Minneapolis that brought that frame of mind to my frontal lobe, and this scenic tour of the park and a few of it's more prominent features was born. The park itself is surrounded by a Public Rose Garden as well as a bird sanctuary so there are plenty of walking trails and sites. I highly recommend a visit to anyone who finds themselves in the Twin Cities Metro. The Spirit of Peace sculpture especially is wonderful to admire, though the original story behind it is somewhat heartbreaking.

This sculpture represents the international tradition honoring Sadako Saski, a girl who developed cancer from radiation released by the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Told of a Japanese legend that people who fold a thousand paper cranes will be granted a wish, she folded over one thousand cranes before her death at age 12. - Minneapolis Parks Pages

The 13 stones surrounding the crane are highlighted in bronze with the steps necessary to create the Peace Crane. Each of the stones is engraved with the word 'peace' in 23 languages. The idea is to take peace into your heart and fold this into the crane, releasing it to the world at the end. Lyndale Peace Garden Park itself is an Official International Peace Site. I will type the steps below each engraving if you wish to grab some origami paper and follow along! I did the absolute best I could with the lighting I had, it was terribly bright. Enjoy the photos!

Crane of Peace

Step 1

Spirit of Peace

• Fold your desire for peace
  into a paper crane
• Read each step carefully
• Match your paper to the pictures
• Begin with a square piece of paper

Step 2

• Fold the paper in half
  into a triangle

Step 3

• Open paper
• Fold into a triangle in the other
  direction

Step 4

• Open paper
• Flip paper over
• Fold the paper in half into a rectangle

Step 5

• Open paper
• Fold it in half in the other direction

Step 6

• Unfold paper
• Position paper with a corner at bottom
• Bring the points #2 and #3 down to #4
• Flatten #1 to meet #4

Step 7

• With corner points pointing down
  fold the lower edges in to form a kite shape
• Repeat on other side

Step 8

• Fold the top corner down
• Crease it hard
• Unfold the last two steps
  to make the small square again

Step 9

• Pull the bottom corner (top layer only) above top corner
• Crease inside fold between A and B
• The other edges will meet to make a long diamond shape
• Flatten
• Repeat on the other side

Step 10

• Fold right and left lower edges into the center
  line to make a thinner diamond shape
• Turn over and repeat on the other side
• Top flaps are wings, bottom points will be tail and head

Step 11

• Open the sides so A and B come together
• Repeat on other side
• Flatten
• Fold the tail point up as far as you can
• Turn over and do the same for the head point
• Fold the head down

Step 12

• Open the sides which fold in the head and tail
• Pull down head and tail
• Recrease bottom for new positions

Step 13

• Gently pull the wings straight
  out from the sides to form the body
• To puff out the body, blow into
  the hole on the underside

The Prayer

This is our cry,

this is our prayer

to build peace in the world.