Philosophy
Flag of India
constructed by Mansoor Kapasi and his students at
Hollywood High
School. CA
The concepts of Peace
and pluralism (mutual recognition and respect for differences) are enjoying
a resonance in this time and place that is as strong as it is paradoxical,
but it is not nearly as strong as it could be. We need a way to join
peacefully, in a positive manner. The act of creating origami birds and
linking them together to form a larger artwork is an outward manifestation
of community.
But how can folding one little bird help?
It works like this: I want peace. I want my peace restored---my
inner peace---my peace of mind. I want to feel good about people and not
fear them or feel isolated. So I plant an idea of peace like a seed, and I
water it with hope. There is no faucet handy to water it so I enlist anyone
who will listen to help, and we set up a bucket brigade to water and
nurture the seed. Soon it becomes a plant, and then a tree. Finally, after
a lot of time has passed, we have a tree with fruit that nourishes
everyone, including the skeptics who asked "how can one tiny seed
help?"
Folding a single bird helps a little. Folding a thousand birds helps
you a lot. But contributing those same birds to a central movement helps
you and everyone else tremendously, by creating and providing the physical
manifestation of peace and love and thoughtfulness that we so crave. This
is the demonstration of the antithesis of violence, and yet this too you
won't be able to get out of your head; you won't be able to tune
it out, turn away, deny it, reject it, avoid it, be unmoved, or unchanged.
It will not be easily achieved, it won't be loud, and yet all will hear it,
and they will know that united we Americans ---and people from all over the
world---stand for Peace.
Six million cranes and swans represent 1,000 birds for each life
lost on that day. We commemorate, we honor, and we show spirituality
without being religious, and patriotism
without politics; simply people honoring life with an expression of peace.
We are conditioned to expect peace, not violence. When violence
happens, we are so surprised and taken off guard that we don't respond. We
just can't move, and yet we cannot allow ourselves to become immobilized.
We need to erase those images, by replacing them with their polar opposite.
People want to SEE a demonstration of peace. We need to see it. And
we want it to be as dramatic as violence.
During our learning
and healing process, the actual origami cranes became a souvenir of the
knowledge gained while engaged in the journey toward folding them. This is
why it is so easy to fold thousands and then give them away: the power is
in the doing, and in ensuring the succession of questioning to onlookers
who themselves then ask why. This is the function of the art we produce
with the cranes we fold.
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