Having Fun and Never Giving Up | Yuko Takeda, Dean of the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care
March 28, 2023
Samurai Japan won a spectacular victory in the World Baseball Classic (WBC). Even those who don't usually pay much attention to baseball rejoiced at the good news, and a celebratory mood swept across Japan. Media coverage focused not only on the games but also on individual players and the team, with "having fun" and "never giving up" emerging as key themes. The Japanese team exuded an attitude of enjoying baseball, and even in difficult situations, a sense of excitement, as if to say "this is what makes baseball so interesting," seemed to spread to the audience. This is likely why they were able to perform without giving up even in what seemed like tight spots, leading to a wonderful result that everyone could relate to and genuinely celebrate together.
"Having fun" and "never giving up" were also central themes in a talk by an individual at a genetic nursing seminar I attended over the weekend. The speaker was a person in their 30s with a progressive, intractable disease that gradually reduces motor function, whose life was significantly changed by an encounter with an initiative called the Suma Universal Beach Project. Although they had enjoyed swimming in the ocean as a child, they had given up on entering the water because it was difficult to move on the sandy beach in a wheelchair as the wheels would get stuck. After their mother happened to find information about this project, they participated, albeit without much enthusiasm, but were moved by the experience of being in the ocean for the first time in a long while and now play a central role in the initiative.
The Suma Universal Beach Project is "a project to make Suma Beach a universal design beach where everyone, including people with disabilities and their families, small children, and the elderly, can feel at ease and enjoy the ocean." It began as a volunteer effort to break the stereotype that people in wheelchairs cannot enjoy the beach. The project's representative was strongly motivated to start this initiative after an emotionally moving and wonderful experience in Australia, where they saw people in wheelchairs enjoying the ocean at the water's edge on a beach covered with beach mats.
The website conveys a sense of heartfelt emotion with photos of people enjoying the beach in wheelchairs and a young girl with a beaming smile as she enters the ocean for the first time. A single "I did it" moment builds great confidence and leads to the next challenge. The project's guiding principles show an attitude of enjoying life and challenging oneself without giving up: "Meccha, eeyan (That's awesome!)—Total Affirmation," "Turn Weaknesses into Strengths—Thinking Outside the Box," and "Do What You Can Yourself. Try to Do What You Can't—Rights and Responsibilities."
This spring, 107 graduates from the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care are embarking on a new chapter in their lives. They will likely have opportunities to take on challenges, face difficulties, and have various encounters unlike any they experienced as students. I hope they will continue to take on challenges without forgetting to "have fun" and "never give up."