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Excerpted Inspirations #195

  • Writer: Linda Odhner, with photos by Liz Kufs
    Linda Odhner, with photos by Liz Kufs
  • 51 minutes ago
  • 0 min read
[Kino’s friend Jiya has lost his family when a big wave swept away his fishing village. Jiya is staying with Kino and his family on their farm.] All through these days Kino did not feel like playing. He worked hard beside his father in the fields. They did not talk much, and neither of them wanted to look at the sea. It was enough to look at the earth, dark and rich beneath their feet. One evening, Kino climbed the hill behind the farm and looked toward the volcano. The heavy cloud of smoke had long ago gone away, and the sky was always clear now. He felt happier to know that the volcano was no longer angry, and he went down again to the house. On the threshold his father was smoking his usual evening pipe. In the house his mother was giving Setsu her evening bath. “Is Jiya asleep already?” Kino asked his father. “Yes, and it is a good thing for him,” his father replied. “Sleep will strengthen him, and when he wakes he will be able to think and remember.” “But should he remember such sorrow?” Kino asked. “Yes,” his father replied. “Only when he dares to remember his parents will he be happy again.” They sat together, father and son, and Kino asked still another question. “Father, are we not very unfortunate people to live in Japan?” “Why do you think so?” his father asked in reply. “Because the volcano is behind our house and the ocean is in front, and when they work together for evil, to make the earthquake and the big wave, then we are helpless. Always many of us are lost.” “But if we are lost in the danger?” Kino asked anxiously. “To live in the presence of death makes us brave and strong,” Kino’s father replied. “That is why our people never fear death. We see it too often and we do not fear it. To die a little later or a little sooner does not matter. But to live bravely, to love life, to see how beautiful the trees are and the mountains, yes, and even the sea, to enjoy work because it produces food for life – in these things we Japanese are a fortunate people. We love life because we live in danger. We do not fear death because we understand that life and death are necessary to each other.” “What is death?” Kino asked. “Death is the great gateway,” Kino’s father said. His face was not at all sad. Instead, it was quiet and happy. “The gateway – where?” Kino asked again. Kino’s father smiled. “Can you remember when you were born?” Kino shook his head. “I was too small.” Kino’s father laughed. “I remember very well. Oh, how hard you thought it was to be born! You cried and you screamed.” “Didn’t I want to be born?” Kino asked. This was very interesting to him. “You did not,” his father told him smiling. “You wanted to stay just where you were in the warm, dark house of the unborn. But the time came to be born, and the gate of life opened.” “Did I know it was the gate of life?” Kino asked. “You did not know anything about it and so you were afraid of it,” his father replied. “But see how foolish you were! Here we were waiting for you, your parents, already loving you and eager to welcome you. And you have been very happy, haven’t you?” “Until the big wave came,” Kino replied. “Now I am afraid of them because of the death that the big wave brought.” “You are only afraid because you don’t know anything about death,” his father replied. “But someday you will wonder why you were afraid, even as today you wonder why you feared to be born.” Pearl S. Buck, The Big Wave (1947) pp. 34-37

 
 
 
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