When I was in high school, there were times when I found it difficult to live.

One day, when I went to school, rumors were spreading that a friend from elementary school had gone missing.

The teachers seemed to be in no mood to calm down.

My friend liked to climb mountains.

I assumed that he was on a mountain climbing trip and would be back soon.

He and I were in different classes, so we only greeted each other in the hallway as we passed each other.

It never occurred to me that he was troubled.

He was still going to the mountains.

The mountain was not a hiking mountain, but a breathless mountain.

He had climbed it once on a field trip, and the hardship was hard to describe.

I think it was a familiar mountain to him.

He had always loved to climb mountains, and I had been invited a few times.

He had always loved to climb mountains and had invited me several times, but I had always refused for one reason or another.

He decided to go to the mountains for the last time.

He was gone from this world.

I was informed of his death a week later.

I didn’t know anything about him.

I learned that his father had cancer and was worried about his career.

The school was in an uproar.

I was not able to go to the wake or the funeral.

I felt everything that had supported me up to that point crumbling away.

I couldn’t go to school anymore.

I shut myself up in my room and turned my sadness to reading.

I couldn’t trust anything, not my parents, not the school, and I was reminded of my helplessness.

Although we had been friends since elementary school, we had drifted apart in different classes, so I only remembered playing with him in elementary school, and people around me seemed to wonder why I was so depressed over the death of a stranger.

His death brought out all the frustrations I had been holding in my heart, and I didn’t know what to do with myself.

My homeroom teacher, Mr. Ito, said this to me.

Take, I think you are at a crossroads in your life, you may be about to die. Dying may be easy, but do you know what’s on the other side of this sea? There may be a world out there that you have never seen before. If you choose to die, why don’t you wait until you have seen the world on the other side of this sea once? We can’t know that in this small world. A book may take you anywhere in your imagination, but if you actually see it, you will understand what it means to be where you are. I would like you to go to the other side of this sea and think about it.

I grew up near the sea, and although the ocean was a familiar presence, I had no idea what was on the other side of the sea.

I wanted to go to the other side of the sea.

Mr. Ito’s words resonated with me, as I was no longer able to believe in anything.

I had heard that Mr. Ito was a graduate of the philosophy department at Waseda University, and since then I had often listened to his books and music.

I was determined to devote myself to my studies and see the world on the other side of that sea.

I chose to study English and American literature because I was greatly influenced by Mr. Ito’s words, although I could not get into Waseda.

Mr. Ito later became a nationally famous tanka poet. When I was stuck at the beginning of my life in Tokyo, I used to read his books for comfort. Even Masato Sakai has written about Mr. Ito.

The phrase “beyond of across the sea” was taken from my experience at that time.

Whenever I was in a position to teach English, I used to tell my students these words of Mr. Ito when they were in distress.

My words may not have reached my students, but I would like to see what is on the other side of this sea that stretches out before me, a dream that has not yet been realized.

The world is spreading out in front of you.

We live in an age where you can go anywhere on the Internet.

I think it is worth seeing it in person.

There are great discoveries when you travel, aren’t there?

There are things that you can’t understand unless you actually see them, even if you are only looking at this small world.

That’s what I would like to say to anyone who visits this blog.

Why don’t you come with me to see what’s on the other side of this sea?

I’m not sure when my departure will be, but I would like to write about it in this blog.

I can also speak a little English, so I would like to write about English as well.

I would like to write from the bottom of my heart so that you, who I have yet to meet, will have a little courage and hope.

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このブログは、swell で書かれています。良いテーマだと感じています。