Debut
Visited my friend and attend the birthday party held in his house. He is also a student of community development. He can be also called Mr. O, but different one from another "Mr. O" who was mentioned in the other journal entry, though both know each other very well. It was not his birthday party, but the eighteenth birthday of his acquaintance; he offered the venue for her since his house is quite spacious.
In this country your eighteenth birthday has the special meaning that you can be or have to be the responsible member of the society you belong. They call this occasion "debut." This is probably similar to the case that Japanese young people celebrate the January 15 of their twentieth year -- Seijin-no-hi. But, in Japan this celebration has been meaningless year by year. As every year reported, if you go to this celebration in any municipal halls as an observer, we can surely witness the noisy crowd of irresponsible young "adults" who seemingly have never learned how to behave.
While I am not familiar with the details about "debut," it seems that this is just a simple birthday party for which many of her relatives and friends are invited. There may also be the more formal party where young new members of the society can loudly celebrate their new freedom and new responsibility; I saw such kind of party in some of five-star hotels held by the people from the rich families. But as for the party last night, it was so simple and at home; therefore enjoyable.
I was able to have a rare chance to talk with seventeen to eighteen year old boys and girls at that night, it was interesting. They are still students and have not had their clear visions about their futures like what kind of job they will have, etc. It seems that there is still full of possibility in their minds. Although they were just shy, I was impressed by the fact that they were naïve and pure. Certainly they also have their own problems in their everyday activities. I do not think they are just innocent angles who have never experienced the hardness, injustice, unfairness of this world; probably they have experienced some of them; and even they have already known that this extent will be increased as they grow.
If they are angles, then they are not innocent angles, but the angles standing at the edge of the cliff where they are now preparing themselves to jump into the world below. Then, the irony is that as soon as they jump, they have to realize that they no longer have their angelic wings and have to realize the truth that there is the severe gravity pulling them down lower and lower unless they resist it and decide to climb the mountain. They are no longer floating in the sky with their angelic wings, but have to stand on the ground with their human legs and have to start walking on their path until they can find where their path leads them to; what the goal of their path will be; whom they can meet on their path; and who is waiting for at the end of the path.
I just thought that they were naughty adolescents – maybe they were, but at the same time I also noted that they had not yet really contaminated by the worldly attributes such as pride, selfishness, pretence, suspicion, doubt, untrustworthy, manipulation and so on. Although I do not think that these adolescents are just like naïve Adam and Eva in the Garden of Eden, including certain ambivalence it seems to them that the so-called adults like me and my friends are omnipotent, though that is of course illusion.
For them, we adults can be independent; can know how to earn money, how to use cars and computers, know the more detailed subtle rules and practices of the society, see what is risky, and what is beneficial in the society, etc. In other words it seems to them that we know certain knowledge and wisdom of how to survive in the society. And that very point makes them feel that we are omnipotent from their point of view. Consciously or unconsciously they notice that they still have to depend on their parents. They are safe but not really free. This is their ambivalence. They want to "debut" as soon as possible, but at the same they are also unconsciously worried about losing their angelic wings and facing the truth of the server gravity in this world.
They asked me what kind of job I am doing right now; why I am still studying in the Ph.D. program; why I have come to this country, etc. Then, I just remember the time when I was just seventeen years old in Japan. Although I have spent for a short moment in the US, English was still a kind of the strange code to be deciphered. At that time it took quite a long time to finish just a few pages if they are written in English, while now it is possible to read through one whole book just within a few days whether it is in English or Japanese.
They are quite fluent in English compared to when I was seventeen years old – of course this is natural since they are the people in the English speaking country. My point is that whether or not their potential and possibility can be maximized is really up to them and probably up to how their environments can encourage them. For example, while their language skill can be improved, I have also seen many adults here who are not even as fluent as these boys and girls. This is a use-it-or-lose-it principle. Of course, language or study is not everything for their lives. It is also really depending on what kind of talents and gifts that one has really committed to.
It is true, however, that you can never see the real path on which you have to walk step by step by using your legs (not your lost-angelic-wings) unless you realize your talent and gifts that are given from the heaven; and unless you have really decided to commit yourself to such talents and gifts. Of course, such talents and gifts do not necessarily have to be something artistic, professional or practical and so on.
I also want them to know that anyone has his or her talent and/or gift just as anyone's life is meaningful and has the purpose as God created all. As I said the other day, it is called one's Personal Legend. Only by walking the path of your Personal Legend, then someday you will rediscover your lost-angelic-wings that have been within you.
In this country your eighteenth birthday has the special meaning that you can be or have to be the responsible member of the society you belong. They call this occasion "debut." This is probably similar to the case that Japanese young people celebrate the January 15 of their twentieth year -- Seijin-no-hi. But, in Japan this celebration has been meaningless year by year. As every year reported, if you go to this celebration in any municipal halls as an observer, we can surely witness the noisy crowd of irresponsible young "adults" who seemingly have never learned how to behave.
While I am not familiar with the details about "debut," it seems that this is just a simple birthday party for which many of her relatives and friends are invited. There may also be the more formal party where young new members of the society can loudly celebrate their new freedom and new responsibility; I saw such kind of party in some of five-star hotels held by the people from the rich families. But as for the party last night, it was so simple and at home; therefore enjoyable.
I was able to have a rare chance to talk with seventeen to eighteen year old boys and girls at that night, it was interesting. They are still students and have not had their clear visions about their futures like what kind of job they will have, etc. It seems that there is still full of possibility in their minds. Although they were just shy, I was impressed by the fact that they were naïve and pure. Certainly they also have their own problems in their everyday activities. I do not think they are just innocent angles who have never experienced the hardness, injustice, unfairness of this world; probably they have experienced some of them; and even they have already known that this extent will be increased as they grow.
If they are angles, then they are not innocent angles, but the angles standing at the edge of the cliff where they are now preparing themselves to jump into the world below. Then, the irony is that as soon as they jump, they have to realize that they no longer have their angelic wings and have to realize the truth that there is the severe gravity pulling them down lower and lower unless they resist it and decide to climb the mountain. They are no longer floating in the sky with their angelic wings, but have to stand on the ground with their human legs and have to start walking on their path until they can find where their path leads them to; what the goal of their path will be; whom they can meet on their path; and who is waiting for at the end of the path.
I just thought that they were naughty adolescents – maybe they were, but at the same time I also noted that they had not yet really contaminated by the worldly attributes such as pride, selfishness, pretence, suspicion, doubt, untrustworthy, manipulation and so on. Although I do not think that these adolescents are just like naïve Adam and Eva in the Garden of Eden, including certain ambivalence it seems to them that the so-called adults like me and my friends are omnipotent, though that is of course illusion.
For them, we adults can be independent; can know how to earn money, how to use cars and computers, know the more detailed subtle rules and practices of the society, see what is risky, and what is beneficial in the society, etc. In other words it seems to them that we know certain knowledge and wisdom of how to survive in the society. And that very point makes them feel that we are omnipotent from their point of view. Consciously or unconsciously they notice that they still have to depend on their parents. They are safe but not really free. This is their ambivalence. They want to "debut" as soon as possible, but at the same they are also unconsciously worried about losing their angelic wings and facing the truth of the server gravity in this world.
They asked me what kind of job I am doing right now; why I am still studying in the Ph.D. program; why I have come to this country, etc. Then, I just remember the time when I was just seventeen years old in Japan. Although I have spent for a short moment in the US, English was still a kind of the strange code to be deciphered. At that time it took quite a long time to finish just a few pages if they are written in English, while now it is possible to read through one whole book just within a few days whether it is in English or Japanese.
They are quite fluent in English compared to when I was seventeen years old – of course this is natural since they are the people in the English speaking country. My point is that whether or not their potential and possibility can be maximized is really up to them and probably up to how their environments can encourage them. For example, while their language skill can be improved, I have also seen many adults here who are not even as fluent as these boys and girls. This is a use-it-or-lose-it principle. Of course, language or study is not everything for their lives. It is also really depending on what kind of talents and gifts that one has really committed to.
It is true, however, that you can never see the real path on which you have to walk step by step by using your legs (not your lost-angelic-wings) unless you realize your talent and gifts that are given from the heaven; and unless you have really decided to commit yourself to such talents and gifts. Of course, such talents and gifts do not necessarily have to be something artistic, professional or practical and so on.
I also want them to know that anyone has his or her talent and/or gift just as anyone's life is meaningful and has the purpose as God created all. As I said the other day, it is called one's Personal Legend. Only by walking the path of your Personal Legend, then someday you will rediscover your lost-angelic-wings that have been within you.
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