Stupid people don't catch colds?

 

 

This is a Japanese saying. It is a classic joke. We say this when someone catches a cold to comfort them:  “You have caught a cold. It proves you are not stupid.”

 

However, I recently started taking this saying seriously. I suspect clever people are more likely to catch colds.

 

Stupid people don’t think about complex things. They always listen to the voices in their body. Is it cold or hot? Am I hungry or not? Am I tired or not? Am I sleepy or not? Listening to these voices from own body might be an important ability to avoid catching a cold.

 

Clever people have to think about many things. Will this cause trouble or not? Do people hate me or not? Will the boss scold me or not? Does it make me a loser or not? Will I make or lose profit? Do I look stupid or not? They need to think too much. It causes them to overwork.

 

Even in a situation like this: “If I don’t finish this work till the next morning, it will destroy the human race,” a stupid person will sleep when the person feels sleepy.  The stupid person never thinks about complex things.

 

This thinking style might be a stupidness we should learn. We don’t want to be destroyed by a stupid person. But does any work, even if we realize it is serious, have enough value to justify ignoring the voices from our body?  

 

If you see a person who catches a cold, please take good care of that person. The person might think too much. The person might ignore the voice from their own body. The person might overwork. You should pray for the person secretly: “be stupider!”

Picture by Toshiro Kiritani

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Forbidden Rock

 

When I was a junior high school student, I was a member of the broadcasting club. We would air music and speeches during lunchtime. What we broadcasted depended on students’ requests. Sometimes I aired my favorite music. 

 

There was a strict rule about school broadcasting: no rock music. We could broadcast any kind of music except rock music.

 

I asked the adviser of the club, “Why is rock music not allowed?” The adviser answered, “If we broadcast rock music, all of the students will start to dance. It will cause a big problem.”

 

I couldn’t understand. Even if we broadcasted rock music, I couldn’t imagine my schoolmates starting to dance.

 

I think back on that memory these days. It makes me laugh. There was a generation who loved rock music very much. Maybe they couldn’t help dancing anytime they heard rock music.  But they are older than my generation. We like rock music. But we don’t have such enthusiasm for rock music.

 

At that time, the rock music generation had already graduated from our school. But the school rule remained.

 

I envy that generation. I don’t have any music that will make me want to dance in any situation.

 

Freddie Mercury said: “I won’t be a rock star. I will be a legend.” He was right. They, including my senior students, are not rock stars. They are legends.

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Key Person

 

 When we built our new house, there was a big problem.

 We found out my father couldn’t unlock the entrance door. There was no problem in the new entrance door. My father’s fingers were just too weak to unlock the lock. My father had artificial dialysis for years, and that made his fingers very weak. He could put the key in the lock, but he didn’t have enough power to turn the key. The door and lock were new. Putting oil didn’t help.

 If he couldn’t open the entrance door, the key and lock were useless. Furthermore, the new house was meaningless.

 We talked to the carpenter. He said, “I will find a way in a few days.” But I couldn’t wait for him. I researched on the Internet. I called a nationwide key trouble company. They said there was no solution.

 There was very old key shop near our house. I had nothing to lose by asking the shop, so I visited it. A very old shopkeeper listened to our problem. He picked up a piece of iron and fixed the key and the iron. He made the key’s handle bigger. That made a sense! He used the principle of leverage. The processed key worked. We made it. My father finally unlocked our entrance door.

 The next day, the carpenter came to our house with another fixed key that also used the principle of leverage, but the handle of the key was as big as a softball. It was too big. My father couldn’t put it in his pocket.

We had to ask a specialist. The carpenter was also a specialist, but he usually made bigger things, so his product was too big.

 Today, these small shops are disappearing. People buy goods in huge shopping malls or online. Sometimes we need a small idea from an experienced specialist. In the near future, they might not be in our neighborhood anymore.

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Airplane

 

 My late granduncle loved in his hobby of making model airplanes. He designed an airplane, made its parts, and assembled them to make a model propeller airplane. Then he made it fly by the riverside. Some communities loved model airplanes. I heard my granduncle was a famous person in the communities.

 When I spoke with my granduncle, I was surprised about one thing. He loved airplanes, so I assumed he also loved to board them. But he had only boarded an airplane once throughout his life. I asked　him why. He said, “I can’t board on such a scary thing!”

 Today, flying materials are controlled by computers like drones. In my granduncle’s days, everything was controlled by old technology. My granduncle’s airplanes crashed easily. He tried hard, but they always crashed. He was afraid of boarding an airplane because he experienced so many crashes.

 We can board an airplane without fear because we don’t know much about airplanes.

Picture by TopVectors

Unlock

  　Many Alzheimer’s caregivers say that the “most difficult time for caregivers is the very first stage of Alzheimer’s disease.” I really agree with this. My mother had Alzheimer’s. I had taken care of her for 14 years in our house. Ironically, the progression of Alzheimer’s disease may make caregiving easier.

 I am writing this story about my mother when she was on the first stage of Alzheimer’s disease. It makes me blue even now. It is still painful to me to remember those days.

 On the first stage of Alzheimer’s disease, a patient may lose things easily. The patient becomes upset and insists that they “lost an important thing” almost every day. The family members are not aware that the patient already has Alzheimer’s. They look for the thing for a long time almost every day. They need to sacrifice their time and effort. These are huge.

 Many things create trouble when we lose them. Key is one of them.

 My mother keeps her important papers like bankbooks in her drawer, and she locks it. In those days, she insisted she lost the key almost every day. In most cases, I could find the key. But sometimes, we couldn’t find it. I needed to call an unlocking company to open the drawer. It costed $200 every time. It was expensive.

 The key expert had never showed me how to open the lock. When he would open the drawer, he would ask us to “go to the next room.” I wished I knew how to open the locked drawer. It would have made things easier for us.

 I solved this problem when she lost her bankbook. I made spare keys. When she lost her key, I put the spare key in the room. Then I let her find it. I needed this charade because I didn’t want to be suspected by her.

 That key was not a special key. Making spare keys was easy and economical. I made 10 spare keys.

 A few days ago, I checked the unlocking company on the internet. They are offering a more affordable price now. They can unlock a lock for only $40. If I were living with my mother now, I could say to her, “Please lose your keys as much as you want.”

Picture by drawlab19

Sleeping and waking up enriched

 

　When my mother was an elementary student, one early morning, my grandmother waked her up roughly by opening a window. There were many factory workers outside. They were on their way to work. In those days, Japanese factories opened their business early.

 My grandmother said, “They had to wake up really early in the morning to work. I am a teacher. I have woken up now. I can be a late riser because I studied very hard when I was young. My dear daughter, you need to study very hard. If you don’t, you have to wake up early every day in the future.”

 I don’t know whether my grandmother’s advice worked. My mother graduated at a prestigious university. I suspect that my mother studied very hard because she wanted to be a late riser. I think this is not a good reason to study.

 My father worked for a newspaper company. He started work in the middle of the night and came home early morning. Then he slept during daytime. When he reached retirement age, he started a new lifestyle: waking up early in the morning. He used to go to bed at 8:00 p.m. and wake up at 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. He would walk to the park and watch the sunrise every day. This lifestyle might be his dream for a long time. Waking up early in the morning could be a rich experience.

 I lived in our house with my mother who had Alzheimer’s disease. An Alzheimer’s patient often makes troubles even in the dead of the night. Having good sleep was difficult for me in those days. I finished graduate school. If my grandmother’s advice were true, I might have been a super late riser. But her advice was not true. Sleeping and educational background are not related.

 Being a late riser could be a rich experience. Being an early riser could also be a rich experience. Both of them are a deeply enriching experience.

 I think the best sleeping habit might be like this: going to bed when you feel sleepy, not setting any alarm, no one disturbing your sleep, not even caring if it is day or night. You get up when you naturally wake up. Your natural sleeping cycle depends on your mental and physical condition.

 This must be a great lifestyle. I wish I have this lifestyle someday.

Picture by BlueRingMedia

 

Cellphone

 

 

When my mother had Alzheimer’s disease, she lost the ability to use a cellphone.

 After about five years, I decided to let her have a cellphone again. I wanted to avoid missing her.

 She always had her favorite bag when she went out. I tied a cellphone to the bag. I provided some instructions with the cellphone. I covered most of the push buttons with packing tape. She could see and make a few speed dials. I wrote my name on one of the speed-dial buttons.

 We trained every day. I would say, “Please call to Shu.” Then I would make her hold the phone and push the button. Then we would talk for a while. She also trained to receive calls from me. I called her up from the next room. She practiced getting the phone.

 It is said that learning something new is difficult for an Alzheimer’s patient. But finally my mother learned how to use the cellphone. Even if she got lost, she could contact me.

 Nevertheless, these efforts were for nothing. She never used the phone when she was alone. Thanks to the care manager, helpers, day service crews, my father, my wife, and of course herself, we always knew where she was.

 I thought of an invention: a cellphone specialized for Alzheimer’s patients with just a few speed-dial buttons. On the buttons, there are names and pictures. An Alzheimer’s patient may find it easy to use but would sometimes need help. In most cases, not many caregivers can really help the patient. That cellphone could help connect the patient to caregivers.

Picture by Purin