| Pass It Forward |
January 16, 2020
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| That night, he was reading a short story. Recently he was attracted by short stories that a famous short story writer wrote. The author passed away about two decades ago, leaving around 1000 short stories. Recently, he happened to read one of them, and then started to read others. The author's short stories' repertoire were science fiction, detective stories, and fantasies. The story he was reading at that time was between science fiction and fantasy. The story began that on the night of Christmas Eve, Santa Clause appeared in a room of a young man. Santa Clause explained that he chose one person every year in order to realize that person's one wish. He, the reader, thought that the situation was a little different from the normal Santa Clause's pattern, but the story's setting was like this: At first, the young man didn't believe him because all adults knew that Santa Clause was a fictitious person. But Santa Clause persuaded him saying that how any human being could enter this room though the doors and windows were locked. The young man thought that he was selected because he was alone in his shabby apartment on Christmas Eve. Actually, he didn't have any friends nor a girlfriend. Santa Clause urged him to tell him his one wish: anything. He started to think about his wish. While reading, maybe he was thinking the same way as the young guy. His situation  was not so different from the guy's. In that case, maybe he wanted more friends, or a girlfriend, or maybe money. He might ask for an expensive car, or a gorgeous house, as well. The young man's idea was not so different. Maybe humans' desires were similar. In addition, there was another similarity ~indecisiveness. Especially, in this case, if it was free and it was anything, normal people couldn't decide easily, this is a kind of greed. And, the guy couldn't decide, either. But, what happened next was different from normal people. He asked Santa Clause if he could give this wish to another person. Santa Clause said yes if it was his wish. The young man spoke to Santa Clause that there was a girl living nearby who suffered from a serious disease, and whose family was poor. She was less fortunate than him, and deserved the chance to make a wish, the young man said. Santa clause went to the girl and asked the same question. After thinking about various things, the girl asked Santa Clause why she was selected. Santa Clause revealed to her that someone recommended her, although he couldn't say his name. The girl said it was enough for her after hearing about the existence of such a kind guy. She also wanted to give the chance to another person. Santa Clause asked her for a recommendation, and she recommended a certain lender. Maybe the author wanted an image of the protagonist of the "Christmas Carol", by Charles Dickens. The lender was a suspicious person, but after learning that somebody gave him this chance by giving it up for him/her-self, he became embarrassed about thinking about his big desire. Eventually, he decided to transfer this chance to another. He appointed a terrorist who grudged the society and system, the lender thought it seemed right to choose someone so angry, so break. Santa Clause went to the terrorist. The terrorist shot Santa Clause but it didn't work. He had to believe him. He asked Santa Clause if he could destroy the whole world. Santa Clause replied yes if that was his wish. The terrorist withdrew the idea because he knew it included the person who gave him this chance. Santa Clause said to him that this year's time had run out, so he would come again next year. But the terrorist announced he wanted to transfer the wish to another person. This story was just a fantasy, but he thought that the story was effective about describing well humans' way of thinking and characteristics. Different than robots, human beings receive effects from others. If you receive something good, you will feel your heart warm, and you want to do good things for others. But, it also can work reversely. Maybe the terrorist had a grudge against society because maybe he had been treated unreasonably in his life. When he had the power to destroy it, he thought about the existence of the person who willingly gave up one's own wish, and then the stiffness of his mind melted. When he was soaking in the after feeling of the story, his apartment's front door buzzer sounded. It was around 11 PM. When he opened the door, a young couple were standing there. The young man said, "Sorry for this trouble, at this late time of night, but we have to apologize for this. Our car hit your car." His car was in the parking lot in front of his room. They looked pale. He went out with them to his car and checked the part that the guy pointed to. Next to his car, there was a car parked with the engine on. He checked the area with his flashlight, the damage looked light, some scratches, no dent. He told him that he would check the car the next morning and would contact him. The next morning, he checked the car's body again. There were some scratches but nothing serious. He went to his friend's car lot and asked his friend's advice. He said that it would cost about 500 dollars or so if he fixed it. He said that he didn't intend to fix it. That night, he called the guy and said that he wouldn't ask him to fix it. The guy thanked very much. He knew it was the effect of that story as for the reason why he showed mercy. And, he also knew that the generosity would be passed forward to the next person. |
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*pass forward :リレーする
*repertoire :レパートリー
*realize :現実にする
*persuade :説得する
*indecisiveness :優柔不断
*render :貸し手
*bleak :荒涼とした
*mercy :救済
*grudge :恨む
*generosity :寛容