Like a Tree at SFC | Naoyuki Agawa (Vice-President in charge of Shonan Fujisawa Campus)
2009.05.28
I don't feel that old myself, but compared to the students at SFC, I've lived two or three times as long. When I was in junior high, I would see women in their late teens and think how grown-up they were (to be precise, I was just staring blankly). I would see people in their 40s and think how old they were. Haruo Sato, who dropped out of Keio University, wrote a poem reminiscing about his student days in Mita that includes the line, "My youthful twenties were a dream, and now I find myself approaching forty." When Haruo Sato, whom I think of as a person from the distant past, wrote this, he was still in his thirties. How did I, without even noticing, pass far beyond forty and arrive "close to sixty"?
When you've lived this many years, all sorts of things happen. There were many times when things didn't go as I'd hoped. Though not always by intention, I changed schools midway and changed jobs after entering the workforce. So, I've been forced to make decisions about my path several times. Were each of those decisions the right ones? If you ask me that, I can only answer, "I don't know." There might have been better choices. All I know is that each time, whether to go right or left, I made a "leap of faith" decision, and before I knew it, I was here. That's all.
There was a legendary baseball player named Yogi Berra, who made a name for himself as a great catcher for the New York Yankees and was also active as a manager and coach. He is well known for saying rather odd things, and many books like "The Yogi Berra Book of Quotations (or Misquotations?)" have been published. One of them went like this.
"When you come to a fork in the road, take it!"
"When you come to a fork in the road, just take it!" I suppose that's the feeling. The logic is clearly flawed, but I strangely understand what he's trying to say.
By the way, he has said many other nonsensical things, such as, "Nobody goes there anymore, it's too crowded," "Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical," "The future ain't what it used to be," and "You should always go to other people's funerals; otherwise, they won't come to yours."
I thought the young leaves had just started to appear the other day, but while I've been busy, the greenery at SFC has become quite deep. There's still a little time before the rainy season. On a sunny day, when you step into the shade of a tree, the air is cool and feels pleasant.
Speaking of which, there was an elementary school song that began with "Aoba shigereru" (The green leaves are lush). It's a song that depicts the scene where Kusunoki Masashige parts with his son Masatsura at Sakurai station before the Battle of Minatogawa.
At Sakurai, where green leaves grow thick, in the village crossing at twilight
Halting his horse in the shade of a tree, he deeply ponders the world's future
Upon the sleeve of his concealed armor, are they falling tears, or is it dew?
I suppose no young people today would know a song like this. But well, that doesn't really matter.
The other day, as I was walking from the Main Building at SFC toward the cafeteria, four trees standing on the lawn between the Media Center and the Duck Pond, near the school building, came into view. Their branches, full of new leaves, were swaying in the wind. I'm told they are zelkova trees. They've grown so much in the time I haven't seen them. Ten years ago, when I first came to this school, all the trees on campus were short and frail, but before I knew it, their trunks have grown thick and tall, their branches have extended gracefully, and from them, young leaves are stretching further toward the sky.
Recently, I've grown fond of looking at trees. I especially like tall, deciduous trees. The bare trees in winter, having shed all their leaves. The trees in spring, as buds appear and new leaves sprout. Each has its own charm. When I was young, I thought flowers were best, but now I prefer trees that, through spring, summer, autumn, and winter, gradually spread their branches and grow thicker and taller. Trees do not speak. They just steadily add another ring to their age and stand tall.
This May, I reached another small turning point in my life and made a decision. I wonder why I made this choice, but what's done is done. At the very least, I want to stand tall with a straight back, like the large trees at SFC.
(Date of publication: 2009/05/28)