Raising Many Living Things
These days, when bullying in our schools has become a major social problem
programs have been launched in many parts of the country with the aim of
helping children to appreciate the preciousness of life. For children who
today have few opportunities in their daily lives to encounter the reality
of birth,aging, sickness, and death because of the growth of the nuclear
family, these programs teach the value of life and that learning about
death teaches the importance of life.
The school I attended during my childhood had its own field, where we were
able to plant, grow, and harvest crops. At home, it was the role of the
children to feed the livestock that were raised. Through these experiences
affection for all living things developed in us and we learned how precious
all life is.
The writer Hiroyuki Itsuki tells us “At present we live in what is called
an ‘information society’ (johoshakai). The character jo contains two
meanings:heart or mind, and purity.
It expresses the pure heart and mind with which we human beings are born.
This means that we should not simply gain new knowledge, but we are able
to meaningfully cultivate again such a pure heart and mind.”
Stuffing our heads with fact is not what is important. By raising flowers
or vegetables at home,for example, parents and children together can learn
the essential lesson of the wonder and preciousness of life and to nurture
minds and hearts that treat all forms of life with the same care and affection.
Childhood Reading Practice
Kazuo Murakami, a professor emeritus at Tsukuba University who is known as a leading authority on genetic engineering,
wrote in a recent newspaper article ―titled “Why Life Is Precious”―“Human
beings have continued to receive their inherited genes, without
interruption, for 3.8 billion years. Being born into this world, in and of itself, is an exceptionally
miraculous event.
Just to be alive is so wonderful and fortunate that it is absolutely essential for us not kill ourselves or others. We should be
grateful for being caused to live in this
world.”
Professor Murakami went on to say, “Being grateful turns on the switch that sets our good genes in motion, and triggers unlimited possibilities.” Therefore I think that in order to facilitate the “awakening” of children’s
good genes, it is helpful to have several days each week
with no television and no computer games and instead for them to practice reading aloud while
still young with unlimited possibilities ahead of
them.
Although children may not understand the exact meaning of a sentence being able to read it aloud instills confidence in them. Later, when they
are able to read about the lives of great men and women, they will develop
hearts and minds filled with worthwhile sentiments.
Then, through the lessons of life passed down from long ago, they will
come to appreciate the precious value of their own lives and the lives of
others.
