I like net-surfing and visit web pages one after another when I have time.
While I was doing it yesterday, I found an interesting article: “How to make money―the interview with Rie Saito, the No. 1 hostess in Ginza” (msn.com).
Rie Saito cannot speak because of her handicapped ears. So she always has something to write on and to write with. Her customers write something on a sheet of paper and hand it to her. Then she will return her reply to him also by writing it on another sheet of paper. That’s the only way of her communicating with her customers.
One day she met a customer who was a manager of a company. He complained to her and wrote the letter 「辛」on the paper. The letter meant “hardship.” She wrote back 「幸」on the same sheet of paper by adding an horizontal line on the top. It meant “happiness”. The man shed tears of happiness, thanking her for her advice.
I graduated from Gunma Prefectural Kiryu High School in 1964. Mr. Tomihiro Hoshino is also a graduate of that school, my junior, a year younger. He graduated from Gunma University and became a gym teacher of a junior high school. While he was demonstrating his performance of vaulting, he fell down and broke his neck, causing his body to be paralyzed. You can read his nine-year life of struggling in the hospital in this book: 『愛、深き淵より』(2000年立風書房). His struggle continued for nine years. It must have been very hard for him to recover from his injury. He married with a nurse who had earnestly taken care of him and he has lived his happy life since then. I imagine that his happiness now is a gift of his nine-year-long struggling.
Rie Saito said to the man, “Your life may be hard now, but you are on the way to happiness.” I suppose that this advice to him must be a gift from her long hardship. We feel we are superior or happier than handicapped people, but the fact is the other way around. Handicapped people are much happier becasuse they overcame their hardship and now enjoy their happy lives. We understand the importance of health after we have experienced our illness. Our life may be more filled with hardship, sadness or unhappiness than with pleasure, joy or happiness. But with Ms. Saito’s advice in our mind, we may be able to live our lives, however hard it is now or however hard it will be.
2009年9月13日日曜日
You are on the way to happiness
I like net-surfing and visit web pages one after another when I have time.
While I was doing it yesterday, I found an interesting article: “How to make money―the interview with Rie Saito, the No. 1 hostess in Ginza” (msn.com).
Rie Saito cannot speak because of her handicapped ears. So she always has something to write on and to write with. Her customers write something on a sheet of paper and hand it to her. Then she will return her reply to him also by writing it on another sheet of paper. That’s the only way of her communicating with her customers.
One day she met a customer who was a manager of a company. He complained to her and wrote the letter 「辛」on the paper. The letter meant “hardship.” She wrote back 「幸」on the same sheet of paper by adding an horizontal line on the top. It meant “happiness”. The man shed tears of happiness, thanking her for her advice.
I graduated from Gunma Prefectural Kiryu High School in 1964. Mr. Tomihiro Hoshino is also a graduate of that school, my junior, a year younger. He graduated from Gunma University and became a gym teacher of a junior high school. While he was demonstrating his performance of vaulting, he fell down and broke his neck, causing his body to be paralyzed. You can read his nine-year life of struggling in the hospital in this book: 『愛、深き淵より』(2000年立風書房). His struggle continued for nine years. It must have been very hard for him to recover from his injury. He married with a nurse who had earnestly taken care of him and he has lived his happy life since then. I imagine that his happiness now is a gift of his nine-year-long struggling.
Rie Saito said to the man, “Your life may be hard now, but you are on the way to happiness.” I suppose that this advice to him must be a gift from her long hardship. We feel we are superior or happier than handicapped people, but the fact is the other way around. Handicapped people are much happier becasuse they overcame their hardship and now enjoy their happy lives. We understand the importance of health after we have experienced our illness. Our life may be more filled with hardship, sadness or unhappiness than with pleasure, joy or happiness. But with Ms. Saito’s advice in our mind, we may be able to live our lives, however hard it is now or however hard it will be.
While I was doing it yesterday, I found an interesting article: “How to make money―the interview with Rie Saito, the No. 1 hostess in Ginza” (msn.com).
Rie Saito cannot speak because of her handicapped ears. So she always has something to write on and to write with. Her customers write something on a sheet of paper and hand it to her. Then she will return her reply to him also by writing it on another sheet of paper. That’s the only way of her communicating with her customers.
One day she met a customer who was a manager of a company. He complained to her and wrote the letter 「辛」on the paper. The letter meant “hardship.” She wrote back 「幸」on the same sheet of paper by adding an horizontal line on the top. It meant “happiness”. The man shed tears of happiness, thanking her for her advice.
I graduated from Gunma Prefectural Kiryu High School in 1964. Mr. Tomihiro Hoshino is also a graduate of that school, my junior, a year younger. He graduated from Gunma University and became a gym teacher of a junior high school. While he was demonstrating his performance of vaulting, he fell down and broke his neck, causing his body to be paralyzed. You can read his nine-year life of struggling in the hospital in this book: 『愛、深き淵より』(2000年立風書房). His struggle continued for nine years. It must have been very hard for him to recover from his injury. He married with a nurse who had earnestly taken care of him and he has lived his happy life since then. I imagine that his happiness now is a gift of his nine-year-long struggling.
Rie Saito said to the man, “Your life may be hard now, but you are on the way to happiness.” I suppose that this advice to him must be a gift from her long hardship. We feel we are superior or happier than handicapped people, but the fact is the other way around. Handicapped people are much happier becasuse they overcame their hardship and now enjoy their happy lives. We understand the importance of health after we have experienced our illness. Our life may be more filled with hardship, sadness or unhappiness than with pleasure, joy or happiness. But with Ms. Saito’s advice in our mind, we may be able to live our lives, however hard it is now or however hard it will be.
2009年8月19日水曜日
The Fall of Freddie the Leaf
Spring came. Freddie, the leaf, was born on a branch of a tall tree.
Hundreds of leaves were born on the tree. They were all friends. Together they danced in the breeze and played in the sun.
Daniel was the largest leaf and Freddie’s best friend. He knew many things. He explained that they were part of a tree in a park. He also explained about the birds, the sun and the moon.
Freddie loved being a leaf. Summer was especially nice. Many people came to the park.
“Let’s get together and give them some shade,” said Daniel.
“Giving shade is part of our purpose in life. Making people happy is a good
reason for living.”
Old people sat under the tree and talked of old times. Children ran around and laughed. It was fun to watch those children.
Summer passed and autumn came.
Soon the leaves changed their colors. Some turned red and others turned yellow. Freddie turned purple. They were all very beautiful.
One day a strange thing happened. Some of the leaves were blown off by a cold wind. The leaves became frightened. “What’s happening?” they said.
“It's the time for leaves to change their home,” Daniel said. “Some people call it dying.”
“Will we all die?” Freddie asked.
“Yes,” Daniel answered. “Everything dies.”
“I won’t die!” said Freddie.
But his friends started to fall one after another.
Soon the tree was almost bare.
“I’m afraid of dying,” Freddie told Daniel.
“We’re all afraid of things we don’t know,” Daniel said. “But you were not afraid when spring became summer, or when summer became fall. Changes are natural.”
“Will we return in spring?” Freddie asked.
“I don’t know, but Life will. Life lasts forever and we’re part of it,” answered Daniel.
“We only fall and die. Why are we here?” Freddie asked again.
Daniel said, “For the friends, for the sun and for the shade. Remember the
breeze, the people and the colors in fall. Isn’t that enough?”
That afternoon, Daniel fell with a smile.
Freddie was the only leaf left on his branch.
The first snow fell the next morning.
The wind came and took Freddie from his branch. It did not hurt at all.
As he fell, he saw the whole tree for the first time. He remembered Daniel’s words, “Life last forever.”
Freddie landed on the soft snow. He closed his eyes and went to sleep.
He did not know this. But, in the tree and in the ground, there were already plans for new leaves in spring.
（Quoted from “New Horizon English Course 3” published by Tokyo Shoseki Co.Ltd., Tokyo; “The Fall of Freddie the Leaf: A Story of Life for All Ages” by Leo Buscaglia, Ph.D. Original English Edition published by Charles B. Slack, Inc. Copyrightc1982 by Leo F. Buscaglia, Inc. Reprinted by arrangement with Henry Holt and Company, LLC. All rights reserved）
2009年8月16日日曜日
Line Connecting Heart to Heart
In the previous article I wrote about loneliness, quoting from Jakucho Setouchi’s ‘Live Loneliness.’
Men, without exceptions, are all lonely. That’s why they talk with others, want others to understand them and try to communicate with others, using any means possible. The main tool for that communication is a language.
NHK’s “Professionals―How to Work” is one of the few TV programs I watch. “Sumikichi’s Open Talk: No.46” introduces Mayumi Kashima, a junior high school teacher, encountering her pupils.
Just as she does, I’ve worked as a high school teacher for over 30 years and had a lot of similar experiences. At any time I tried hard to communicate with my students. If I failed to communicate in the first trial, I tried in the second trial. If I failed again, I challenged for the third, fourth, fifth… Anyhow I tried again and again, patiently, using every possible method I could think of. Not only with the communication with the students, but also with the communication with the teachers I used every thinkable means. And I cannot forget how strongly I was moved when I felt the oneness with my students and teachers, just as Ms. Kashima did with her students.
I had two big problems to solve when I became the principal of Chuo High School in 2001. One was to promote the Super English Language High School program designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The other was to remodel Chuo High School into a completely new secondary school. I was at a loss. “Even one problem is too big for me. I wonder if I can solve two at the same time.”
Anxiety prevented me from sleeping. Sleepless nights continued from April through June. I could not sleep but my brain was sharp enough to think. I said to myself, ”I cannot solve these problems by myself. I need the staff’s help. How can I have heir understanding and cooperation? Soldiers move with orders, but teachers won’t. I will fail if I try to persuade the teachers. I’ve got to appeal to their hearts.”
I began to move. I sat in front of the microphone every Wednesday morning to address my speeches in English. I asked my music teacher to select the theme music for my speech hour. The students would be ready to listen to my speech when the music started. One of the English teachers was asked to study by the MECSST for three weeks. I taught English in his place. I had 16 classes a week. The teaching material was about how Steven Spielberg had became a movie director. I grew whiskers and beard and wore jeans and a pink shirt. The students liked my performances and studied hard.
I used mass communications. I worked on the local newspaper companies, the telecasting company and the NHK. I wanted many Japanese people to know how hard the teachers and students were working at my school.
“Oh, our principal is enthusiastic! We’ve got to work hard.” The staff said to themselves.
Now I was free from anxiety. The teachers began to think for themselves. They proposed new, good ideas. I had only to carry out their ideas.
Men, without exceptions, are all lonely. That’s why they talk with others, want others to understand them and try to communicate with others, using any means possible. The main tool for that communication is a language.
NHK’s “Professionals―How to Work” is one of the few TV programs I watch. “Sumikichi’s Open Talk: No.46” introduces Mayumi Kashima, a junior high school teacher, encountering her pupils.
Just as she does, I’ve worked as a high school teacher for over 30 years and had a lot of similar experiences. At any time I tried hard to communicate with my students. If I failed to communicate in the first trial, I tried in the second trial. If I failed again, I challenged for the third, fourth, fifth… Anyhow I tried again and again, patiently, using every possible method I could think of. Not only with the communication with the students, but also with the communication with the teachers I used every thinkable means. And I cannot forget how strongly I was moved when I felt the oneness with my students and teachers, just as Ms. Kashima did with her students.
I had two big problems to solve when I became the principal of Chuo High School in 2001. One was to promote the Super English Language High School program designated by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The other was to remodel Chuo High School into a completely new secondary school. I was at a loss. “Even one problem is too big for me. I wonder if I can solve two at the same time.”
Anxiety prevented me from sleeping. Sleepless nights continued from April through June. I could not sleep but my brain was sharp enough to think. I said to myself, ”I cannot solve these problems by myself. I need the staff’s help. How can I have heir understanding and cooperation? Soldiers move with orders, but teachers won’t. I will fail if I try to persuade the teachers. I’ve got to appeal to their hearts.”
I began to move. I sat in front of the microphone every Wednesday morning to address my speeches in English. I asked my music teacher to select the theme music for my speech hour. The students would be ready to listen to my speech when the music started. One of the English teachers was asked to study by the MECSST for three weeks. I taught English in his place. I had 16 classes a week. The teaching material was about how Steven Spielberg had became a movie director. I grew whiskers and beard and wore jeans and a pink shirt. The students liked my performances and studied hard.
I used mass communications. I worked on the local newspaper companies, the telecasting company and the NHK. I wanted many Japanese people to know how hard the teachers and students were working at my school.
“Oh, our principal is enthusiastic! We’ve got to work hard.” The staff said to themselves.
Now I was free from anxiety. The teachers began to think for themselves. They proposed new, good ideas. I had only to carry out their ideas.
2009年8月12日水曜日
Loneliness
The moon looks very lonely while it goes aound the vast , vacant sky alone. The sun , just like the moon, also goes around the vast, vacant sky, but its beam is so strong that it won't enable us to look at it. On the other hand the moonlight is gentle enough for us to have a look at it all the time. So we want to appeal our loneliness by looking at the moon even every night.
If we look at the autumn moon, our heart will be filled with loneliness though it shines so brightly. Saigyo
Death means being alone and lonely by giving away all things occupied with nothing.
We were all born alone and die alone. So we are lonely while living with our spouse, for we cannot die together. Ippen Shonin
It is natural that we should be alone and lonely. We can understand others' loneliness because we are lonely.When we understand others' lonelieness, we sympathize and empathize others, finally loving them with deep understanding. Love is consideration.
Imagine a fetus while it is in its mother's womb. It puts its head onto its knees, hugging them with its arms. How lonely it looks! We cannot but think we were, have been and are alone and lonely since we were in our mothers' womb. So we posture in the same style when we feel lonely and sad.
(Quoted from Setouchi Jyakucho's 'Live loneliness'(1998 Published by Kobunsha Co. Ltd. Tokyo)
If we look at the autumn moon, our heart will be filled with loneliness though it shines so brightly. Saigyo
Death means being alone and lonely by giving away all things occupied with nothing.
We were all born alone and die alone. So we are lonely while living with our spouse, for we cannot die together. Ippen Shonin
It is natural that we should be alone and lonely. We can understand others' loneliness because we are lonely.When we understand others' lonelieness, we sympathize and empathize others, finally loving them with deep understanding. Love is consideration.
Imagine a fetus while it is in its mother's womb. It puts its head onto its knees, hugging them with its arms. How lonely it looks! We cannot but think we were, have been and are alone and lonely since we were in our mothers' womb. So we posture in the same style when we feel lonely and sad.
(Quoted from Setouchi Jyakucho's 'Live loneliness'(1998 Published by Kobunsha Co. Ltd. Tokyo)
2009年8月11日火曜日
For a better world
I 've been in a hospital for two days for my health check since yesterday.
I met a man who was about my age and had been a college professor majoring in mathmatics. This year he has been called by a university in Portugal to study mathematics.
At the same time he opened a blog entitled "Institute of Reproducing Kernels"(http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kbdmm360) to express his ideas and opinions so that our society will be better.
I 've been working at schools for more than thirty years and contributed for the betterment of the English education in Japan, which I'm very proud of.
While I was talking with the man, an idea hit me: "Well, I may contribute to our society by opening my blog and express my ideas just as he is doing." So now I have opened this blog.
I met a man who was about my age and had been a college professor majoring in mathmatics. This year he has been called by a university in Portugal to study mathematics.
At the same time he opened a blog entitled "Institute of Reproducing Kernels"(http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/kbdmm360) to express his ideas and opinions so that our society will be better.
I 've been working at schools for more than thirty years and contributed for the betterment of the English education in Japan, which I'm very proud of.
While I was talking with the man, an idea hit me: "Well, I may contribute to our society by opening my blog and express my ideas just as he is doing." So now I have opened this blog.
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