October Reflections

I had another small bout of sickness and was given some time to stay home in order to recover. I have recovered now and still have a free day off in order that I will be most assuredly healthy for the overnight trip tomorrow to the tropical-like shores of Amakusa with the Thai exchange students (which is followed by my own long-weekend trip to the north of Japan). Very fortunately I do not have the appendicitis that my doctor and I were slightly worried could have been the case. My brothers will laugh at this because they know that I can be a bit of a hypochondriac. At least I am always wrong (and so are my doctors (who are almost all very competent people I might add)).

So I had time, just some, to think about things that are going on around me and in my life. A very good friend of mine from Hawaii recently complained about the fact that people in America don’t take enough time to slow down and enjoy life or at least that slowing down and just living life was not a high priority where the fast-paced, stressful life had seemingly long ago crept into the everyday. He noted that life here in Ubuyama, according to my entries, seemed to be more congenial towards taking things slow. I had to disagree there, although I could see why he thought that.

People here do take time to sip some shochu and Asahi with people from work but even this time seems to fit under the category of scheduled events. The alcohol may take away the feeling that the enkai (drinking party) is a scheduled event with bosses and co-workers, but it is still a part of the business of life. The teachers who work hard from 7am to 7 or 8pm everyday (sometimes more counting their time commuting) are busy all day organizing their students in order that they be disciplined and on task. I would have a hard time believing that schools in rural America are anything like this school. On the other hand there are many schools in Japan with apathetic students where things are nothing like they are here. I have been told numerous times that the students of Ubuyama are unique and I have even noticed that some students from a particularly small elementary school here are even more unique. This is all to say that life here is very busy. People are dedicated to their everyday work and even the parties fit into the patchwork of this work-centric lifestyle. But perhaps a major difference comes from how this work is done here. At least for the farmers here work can be seen as a kind of quiet meditation (with the addition that they must produce to sell). Life here is peaceful for many of the village people but it is also very busy for almost everyone that I see.

In my own life I have valued most highly the ability to hold onto my own time, however that might be. Or perhaps it is more straightforward to say that I have feared slipping into a life that was automatic, one in which I would lose the little control I like to think that I have. Or maybe even it is that I wish to hold on to the free time with which I can ponder things of my own interest. So naturally I am critical of the life in which stress pushes one through an overly busy life that is so structured that there is little time for creativity. Unfortunately the truth of this world seems to be that this is the case for the majority of people. If I were to avoid the all-too-busy life it would be because I am both privileged and fortunate. This is not to say that the busy life cannot also be extremely rewarding and healthy – for perhaps it is the most healthy life (i.e. “love and work”) – but this ideal is almost never achieved in the world today (or so it seems).

When I was a little boy I wanted to be a football player more than anything else. Then I dislocated my arm, got chubby, and decided that being a rock star was more my gig so I started with the guitar. Then as early as high school the moving life made it more difficult to lug the thing around and so I turned to photography and became fascinated with the gear like I had been fascinated by football cards in my earlier youth. Then even that became too much to carry (and too expensive until digital came along and erased the need to process the film). My whole life I have been shrugging off unneeded burdens and seeking a simplicity that allows for freedom. I guess my mom taught me that. Thanks mom. Which brings me to Japan, to my life after college graduation. Perhaps I have learned now that all you really need is a little food, some clothes, perhaps some kind of roof over your head depending on where you are, and a healthy body and mind. The biggest challenge for me now is to find a way to maintain all of those things without sacrificing too much of the specific kind of freedom that I seek.

Well now that I have stripped a bit and revealed myself in a comic strip sort of way I will have to soon leave for more trips. I hope you are all well.