Befriending yourself before you befriend others.

As the scenery begins to change this spring let’s also consider the people around us as scenery and how we look at them.
You might have an allergy to pollen but don’t be allergic to the people who surround you.
Try these eye drops and see the world around you change. There will be tears in your eyes.

My online English teacher who likes Japanese anime recommended the Japanese anime film “A Silent Voice”. She said the film is about a bully who becomes the bully and understands how people feel for the first time. She said the film is so moving that she cried many times.

I watched the film as soon as possible. I was weeping, especially in the last scene. I felt that the issue of bullying and the deaf are tools in the story but what I would rather highlight is the importance of communication and “forgiving yourself”. In the last scene, the world changing when he forgives himself was expressed with beautiful images and sounds. I was so moved by how the world could shine so brightly that I cried.

The main character is deaf, and cannot communicate even though she wants to. The boy who used to be a bully understands how the bullying feels when he is bullied himself, but he still lives with a sense of guilt. His subjective world, in which he lives with such guilt, is well expressed in the animation, and the world he sees is one where most people have an X on their faces.

I was horrified to see it. I used to mark with an X on the faces of people whose values and interests did not match mine. And if I no longer felt comfortable with them, I would just X them and leave. My world was tiny. It was as if it symbolized the interaction of people today. They avoid communication with people who don’t suit their convenience or values, they lack the willingness to listen to others, and yet they want people to acknowledge them. Many people probably daub an X on people’s faces, as in this film.

My world is more peaceful now. I work on listening to people who live in the world of the X mark on people’s faces, helping them to forgive themselves, and giving them positive feedback to help them feel more self-affirmed.

How can we achieve a life without an X mark on people’s faces?

You need to do something, and that is to first be sincere with yourself so that you can eventually become more in touch with the feelings of others. To forgive yourself is to accept the world around you. Then the world may naturally seem more beautiful.

In other words, loneliness is created by oneself. Getting along with yourself is the most important thing if you wish to communicate with others.