[Helping Hands
]
Here comes the shortest month of the year!
But last February was the longest month of her life for Erior.
Right after the standardized university admission exam held in Japan mid-January,
our youngest girl was having the toughest time.
Because test scores are not mailed out until late May, students have two weeks after taking exams, without any definite idea of their exam results,
to complete college admissions applications determining which individual annual public university exams
they will take on Feb. 25-26 or March 12-13.
A year ago, our daughter received a small omamori pocket charm from a friend of mine living in Yamaguchi.
My friend bought this and some other lucky items for my daughter when she visited a local shrine dedicated to Tenjin-sama, the God of Literature.
Her gift included an Ema wishing board, an omamori good luck charm written on a small tablet presented in a colorful embroidered bag
with string closure, ofuda household amulet, pencils and hachimaki headband with the Japanese word for "Endeavor"
printed across it in kanji characters.
As a volunteer tour guide, I'd give some basic information to international visitors about the local shrines and temples we visited.
Although I'd bought none of these popular items for myself because of my religious background,
we decided to follow the instructions included with each charm.
First, on the ema, Erior wrote the name of the school she wanted to gain admission to, and at the end of January,
mailed it back to the shrine. In February, the shrine sent her notification that they'd received the tablet and a prayer.
Lastly in March, in return for her success, Erior sent her hachimaki back to the shrine with an encouraging message
for other students and the names of the three medical schools for which she qualified.
How nice if her words help strengthen the resolve of another student in the same position this month!
In February, the girl never forgets all my friend did for her.
Me neither.
(Kazuyo)
How nice it would be if someone could simply listen to you and accept you just the way you are.
Everyone has weaknesses, anxieties or even pain that last a lifetime.
Looking back, I realize I had been drowning for years.
Many years ago, I regretted standing on a high cliff. Suddenly thrown from that cliff, I fell into a deep ocean.
I didn't know how to swim, and I floundered for a while until I stopped struggling and quietly drifted into dark water.
I didn't die, but I lost faith in myself and other people.
In time, I met a man of great sincerity. For a long while, he had been floating in the same dark waters as I.
But in order to show his faith in me, he opened his heart wide.
He took me aside and told me, "If something bad has happened to you in your life, don't be saddled with the problem.
Just tell me about it. Because once you release it, the power it has to hurt diminishes."
I started listening to my inner voice, and gradually I was able to reveal my painful, hidden memories.
The moment I put them into words, I felt all my energy drain away.
Helpless, my soul left my body, and my mind emptied into white.
But as soon as I could speak of the past, it all seemed to fall away.
I was vulnerable, and somehow I saw myself as a piece of bitter chocolate.
But during my telling and afterwards, he was sweet to me and the bitterness vanished.
He too had a difficult past, and his awful memories gushed forth and all vanished into air.
Our souls melted, blended and cascaded like a fountain. Only sweetness remained.
All this truly occurred within the depths of my heart.
People can create a future. However, I never thought I could change the past, for it had all already happened.
Some events occurred, went by and are now forgotten. But others still exist within my memory.
I've been seeing a lot of the past from a different perspective now.
This person, because I trusted him, was able to pull me from the water and place me on the shore. And me, him.
Since I was able to tell him of the past I hated, it somehow doesn't look that ugly anymore.
So if you can open your mind, your sorrows might be lessened or even eliminated somehow.
Perhaps an encounter you might have tomorrow will ease your weaknesses, anxieties and pains.
Happy Valentines.
(Miwa N.)
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