The gods laugh a lot

Isn’t it beautiful here?
I just gave a speech at the school where I work the most. First I made the four proper bows, which amused the audience. I had a small piece of paper to remember some words in Japanese. Then the English teacher, this great guy Sato sensei, translated the rest of my five-minute speech. I told them how wonderful I thought they were, including the teachers (there were about 55 people there). Then I told them that without the kindness and good-heartedness of many Japanese people in the past I would not be here. It is perhaps too simplistic to say, but it is true. My mother and her family would not have been able to live through a war in Japan without the unusual kindness of ordinary Japanese. And if they had not had that experience in Japan one of the main motivational factors for applying to JET in the first place may never have been. It was also a course on Japanese history that led me along my merry way to the place I sit and type now. Speaking of the course, my professor, Samuel Yamashita, is coming out with a new book this upcoming month. It is called Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies: Selections from the Wartime Diaries of Ordinary Japanese and I advise you to check it out. You can read a short piece on it here:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-08-03-hiroshima-voices_x.htm

From what I know about wartime Japan and the diaries and letters I have read it was a tumultuous time for the majority of individuals who had to reconcile the responsibility of serving their country (or disagreeing with it) as well as survive in a time of severe food shortages.

That said; last night I realized as well how chaotic the various winds that blew me here really are. I could be in France right now! Or in Berkeley with my brother! I understand why I came here instead but I also recognize where I could be. It’s funny to look back on all those choices you made in your life and realize how they could have been made differently; but then, of course, you would be a different person looking back (if you chose to look back at all). History is like that as well, but to many it seems otherwise. Best not to dwell too much, but good to dwell some.

On the global level, as with the individual level, the things that go wrong are frustrating: the wars that last too long, the corruption of people in power, the inertia of global warming, and the development of nuclear weapons. Then there are some people trying to help (perhaps dnc.org and my good friend and governor for 2.5 years Howie?). In some ways they are like personal bouts: spouses fighting, a broken marriage, child abuse, discrimination, misunderstanding, hard childhood, or abject poverty. So are the global and the personal the same thing I ask of you kind readers? Gather your thoughts and circulate your ideas, otherwise they may never be.