Proverb*

Proverb

December 18, 2017

He got up. It was around 5 a.m. He sometimes would wake up early. Maybe it was because of his age. He retired from his job last year. Getting up early was not a bad thing. He drank coffee and started to read the newspaper.
'Early bird gets the worm.'

It became six thirty. He changed his clothes. Recently, he bought a bicycle. After retirement, his priority was being healthy. Using his new bike, he would sometimes go outside. When he pedaled, he felt his mind being lifted. He especially liked to ride in the morning. It made him feel that he got extra benefits. He could think of various things because his head was clear in the morning.
'Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.'

In the morning, people started to move. People felt energetic. But on this day, his mind was gloomy. He was disgusted that there were so many dark news recently. Nowadays, there were many incidents and they took many victims. Before, the world seemed to be more peaceful.
'No news is good news.'

He was thinking that was because of competitiveness. This world became speedier than before thank to new

technologies, like the Internet. Maybe people's lives became better. People could live a cheaper life than before. But the difference between the rich and the poor became bigger.
'First come, first served.'

Many people who felt this was unfair. But how should we live? He didn't want to be a loser. It seemed to be hard to know what is normal.
'Common sense is not so common.'

Bad actions and events seemed to spread from one to another.
'A rotten apple injures its neighbors.'
'Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely.'

At first, he thought that we could get more information so the world would become more transparent and thus become better. It was opposite. In the flood of information, it became more difficult to judge what was really correct. People also got to announce their complaints. But were they really our representative voice? There might be a silent majority.
'It's the empty can that makes the most noise.'
'Don't judge a book by its cover.'

Maybe modern people are louder than older people who bore their hardship.
'Practice before you preach.'
'Keep your mouth shut and your eyes open.'
'If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.'
'I complained that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.'

Maybe he should study more, he thought. He could study how to recognize the right thing through the Internet and libraries. Fortunately, he had enough time.
'The first step to health is to know that we are sick.'
'What you see is what you get.'

He could study about negative happenings and events.
'Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.'

And after thorough scrutiny, he would do something.
'Everyone talks of changing the world, but no one talks of changing himself.'
'Fortune favors the bold.'
'Good things come to those who wait.'
'Judge each day not by the harvest you reap but by the seeds you plant.'
'Where there's a will, there's a way.'
'When one door closes, another door opens.'
'No pain, no gain.'

He realized there were so many proverbs to encourage people to do something.
'Tomorrow is another day.'

*priority :優先順位
*gloomy :気が重い
*incident :事件
*competitiveness :競争
*serve :サービスを提供する
*corrupt :腐敗する
*hardship :苦難
*preach :説教する
*scrutiny :精査
*favour :好む
*bold :大胆
*reap :刈り取る
*encourage :勇気づける