あの時の自分へ

人生経験が圧倒的に少ない子供にとって、自分の両親や学校の先生が言うことが 世の中の全てだったり、大きな影響を与えることは当然なことかと思います。

そんな中で、私が今でも先生から言われたことで思い出すことが二つあります。

一つは、小学校高学年の時のクラス担任だった先生が仰った　”人間は他人と関われば関わるほど寿命が短くなる”　と言われたことと、もう一つは、中学校の先生が仰られた、”君たちはまだ分かっていないと思うけど、もう少し大きくなったら、親が一番愛しているのは子供だけではないとうことが分かるようになる”　という言葉です。 

どのような文脈で語られた言葉だったか今になっては思い出せませんが、その時の私には重くのしかかる言葉であったことは間違いありません。何故なら、その言葉を、50代になった今でも覚えているからです。

ただ、今思うと、あの時の先生は二人ともまだ20代でいらっしゃって、先生自身も今の私から見るとまだ人生経験の少ない若者であったと気がついたのです。

ということで、これらの言葉の呪縛からは逃れることができそうです。

同じ世界や環境を共有していても、人によって見方は異なり、人により物語が違ってくるのは当たり前だと思います。だからこそ、子供には、色々な考え方や選択肢があることを教えて、人によって正解も違ってくることを早い段階から理解してもらうことが大切だと感じました。

(English)

I think it is natural for children who have very little life experience to think that what their parents or school teachers say is everything in the world. I think it is natural for children with little life experience to think that what their parents or school teachers say is everything in the world and has a great impact on them.

In such a situation, there are two things that I still remember from my teachers.

One was from my homeroom teacher when I was in the upper grades of elementary school: “The more we get involved with others, the shorter our life span becomes. The other was from a junior high school teacher who said, “I know you don’t understand it yet, but when you are older, you will understand that it is not only the children that parents love the most. 

I can’t remember the context in which these words were said, but I am sure they weighed heavily on me at that time. Because I still remember those words even now in my fifties.

However, when I think about it now, I realize that both teachers were still in their twenties at that time, and they themselves were still young people with little life experience from what I can see now.

So it seems that I can escape from the spell of these words.

I think it is natural that even though we share the same world and environment, different people see things differently and different people have different stories. That’s why I felt it was important to teach my children that there are many different ways of thinking and choices, and to help them understand from an early stage that the right answer will also differ from person to person.