LETTER FROM HAPPY ENGLISH SCHOOL　　Dec, 12th, 2017

Hello. It is getting colder and colder and the winter holiday is coming soon.

Most of us are not religious, but we celebrate Christmas and visit shrines and temples on New Year’s Day. It seems that we have accepted Shintoism, Buddhism and Christianity in our own ways and incorporated them into our customs by taking advantage of some of their aspects to suit our culture and societal systems.

Religions have become ceremonial affairs in a sense in Japan. These days there are many souls to be soothed and healed in the competitive society, but unfortunately, they don’t appear to devotedly play their roles in leading those people to attain their peace of mind. Religions should preach people to have them live well. People seek salvation and I think that religions, but not fanatic cult religions, can more actively seize the opportunities of their visit on ceremonial occasions to help save them.

I feel sad every time I hear about suicide. Japan hits one of the highest numbers of suicide cases in the world. Last Wednesday, when I was on the subway train heading for Namba, there was an accident resulting in injury in the Midosuji line and the subway system was disturbed causing to delay its schedule for one hour. It actually turned out to be not a suicide case, but

I know there are many such cases and we lose precious lives.

We should also care about each other and try to reach out to help those in despair. I am appalled to know there are many straying souls who seek treatments for depression in today’s society and I believe that religion and we could do more to save them out of the abyss of agony in some way or other.

Now, what we can do is to enjoy this festive season and share the joy of life with each other, see the glass half full rather than half empty and tell it to others. We should be connected in real life.

寒くなりました。冬休みももうすぐ、クリスマスや新年の賑わいを共に分かち合えたらいいですね。うまくいかないことがあっても、そこから教訓を得てそれが学びとなり、今後に役立てることができる。正しい方向での努力の先には必ず喜びがあります。一日一日、自分のペースで自分のできることを積み上げていくことが大切です。英語の学習がまさにそうで、しっかり積み上げてさらに一年過ごしましょう