Clapping

              I used to be a part-time stage actor. I was onstage in mini-theaters. So, I know that most of the actors in mini-theaters don’t get paid a performance fee. They only get applause from the audience of the show. So, I wanted to clap strongly and loudly when I went to theaters as a member of the audience. But I couldn’t. I was not a good clapper. My hands couldn’t make a loud sound, and I couldn’t clap for a long time. If I kept clapping for a long time, my hands were painful. I always wanted be a good clapper.

              By the way, I was not a religious person, because my parents were not religious people. So, our house didn’t have any family altar.

             When my father passed away, I decided to have an altar in our home. I also started to pray in front of the altar every morning.

              Praying in the traditional Japanese Shinto way is by bowing twice, clapping the hands twice, and then bowing again.

              People who are more religious than me do this every morning and evening. I am not that religious, so I just did it every morning.

              About eight years later, I found out my clapping had changed. I had become a good clapper. I never felt pain, even if I clapped for a long time. My clapping had become louder. If I clap as powerfully as I can, other members of the audience would be surprised and look at me. 

              I clap twice every morning. In this way, I practiced clapping for eight years. It made me a good clapper.

              I think this practice method can be used in other fields.

              When we want to master something, we tend to practice very hard. We could practice from morning to night every day. But in most cases, this would make us tired. In most cases, we would quit. This is why most of us are quitters.

              If you want to master something, practice twice every morning. Practice sincerely, like praying. If you have more passion, you can practice every evening too. If you continue this practice style, you can master anything in a few years.

              The Shinto praying style may contain a hidden message from the ancient Japanese.

              There must be many things we should learn from ancient peoples.

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Actor-Horse

 

              My wife and I visited a stock farm to take a picture with a horse because that year was the year of the horse. Taking a picture with a horse might have brought us good luck.

              We experienced horseback riding and took some pictures.

             I had the opportunity to talk with the owner of the farm. I asked him the question I had always wanted ask: “I have seen many movies and TV dramas related to horses. In them, there are sometimes scenes in which horses fall down. How do they film those scenes?”

              I imagined that the answer might be scary. If a horse falls down in a horse race, that could kill the horse. I prepared myself to hear a scary answer.

He answered: “Some horses can act like that.”

             What a relief. Those horses were different from racing horses, which need to run at top speed. Dogs and monkeys can trick people. Of course, horses can trick people too. They are actor-horses.

              But on TV, movie director Takeshi Kitano said a scary thing: “In the old days, they used stun guns to make horses fall down, but now we cannot do that, because of animal rights.”

             Falling-down scenes used to be scary. I can’t watch old horse movies anymore.

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A Question from A Student

I lived with my mother for fourteen years when she had Alzheimer’s disease. I published a book about the experience. A university invited me to be a guest teacher because of the book.

When I was a student, universities were very crowded. I was worried that I would need to talk in front of hundreds of students. Actually, there were only six students in front of me—because of the declining birth rate in Japan, I guess.

I decided not to give them a speech but to have a round-table discussion.

I briefly introduced myself and my book, then asked: “Do you have any questions?”

The first question was, “Why did you decide to care for your mother?”

That was not the question I expected. I couldn’t answer for a while.

I never decided to take care of my mother, not intentionally. I lived with my parents, and my mother happened to become an Alzheimer’s patient. At that time, my mother had many friends. They visited our house every day. I assumed they would take part in caregiving for my mother, but they didn’t. I assumed government welfare offices and hospitals would take care of my mother, but they never actively helped us. The caregiver needed to make the first move.

I never wanted to take care of my mother in my life. Everyone dumped the caregiving on me and ran away. No one would take care of her except me. I didn’t have the courage to dump my mother, and I never did.

I couldn’t answer the student’s question then, but I can now.

“In the future, I wish only people who wanted to decide to become caregivers.”

 

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Picture Undrey