In the previous issue, I discussed that one needs to anticipate that there will be some areas that mutual understanding does not occur because of the generation gap; older people can give their wisdom and experience to younger people, but in the areas that they don’t quite understand, they should rely on younger people and hold them accountability for the outcomes. Although I teach that “don’t put blame on other people or the environment you are in”, I admit that the environment and people have changed so dramatically these days that the gap of understanding occurs between generations. We need to strive to close this gap.

Longevity is on the rise, and it is said that the average lifespan may increase to 100 years during the 21st century. This may be due to the fact that there are many excellent people in the medical schools, and also due to improved food situation, but if this leads to a clear generation gap, it may become even more severe than today, and we may become a race where there is a five-generation gap between people.

There was a time when New York was known as a “melting pot of races” and people of all kinds lived there. We may have to live with that mindset from now on. It is said that one- eighth of the adult population in Tokyo is of foreign nationality. Unless you are willing to work together with these people, you may not be able to have a connection with younger people.

Even in my time, it was said that when a man and a woman get married, if the age difference between them is more than four years, they will no longer be able to communicate with each other and the marriage may fall into crisis. I don’t know how it is today, but I think there are big individual differences.

In this society of longevity, I think we need to be educated to properly understand the differences in people’s upbringings and environments, and to find ways to acknowledge and understand those differences and live our lives accordingly, knowing that we will eventually be 80, 90, or even 100 years old.

As we get older, we gradually develop the habit of boasting about our experience and age. Young people are often superior in many ways, but it is sad to think that a person’s value gradually declines as we grow older. If we don’t retain some values that getting older is a celebratory and happy thing as the old saying goes, human’s later years will be difficult for everyone. I want you to know this point.

Even with a five-year age difference, there may be slight differences in sense of values and people no longer agree with each other. I am sure that many changes in the environment, tools, machines or people’s behaviors have occurred. While acknowledging them, I think that we would all be happier if we create a society where people could feel that we are growing according to our age.

Many people will feel depressed if they think that they are getting worse as they grow older like rotten fruit. I think it’s better to be considerate about that.

Being Excellent and Being Kind to Others at the Same Time Is a Virtue

Unless excellent people keep on emerging, society will stagnate. I think it is a great thing that young people are excellent. Being excellent doesn’t necessarily end up being harsh to other people. I would like you to know that being kind to others is also virtuous.

When I was in my late teens or early twenties, my teachers taught me that older people tend to be harsh on young people, but times have certainly progressed; the world has gotten better; incomes have increased; companies have developed; roads have gotten better; and many other things have improved. This is proof that the younger generations are becoming more and more talented, so we should not be too harsh on younger people. When my teachers taught me that, I remember thinking, “that’s one way to look at it.”

While we should consider this way of thinking, we need to make efforts to coexist with young people. In terms of environmental factors, young people can adapt themselves to new environments better than older people, but other than that, older people have more experience. I wish young people humbly ask older people, “What can I do in this situation?”

Modern People Lost Their Hungry Spirits

We live in a society today where people are easily hurt when they were scolded and where people are quick to bring up sexual harassment and power harassment. There was nothing like that in the old days. When I was a child, a TV series called “Kyojin no Hoshi” (English translation, “Star of the Giants”) was very popular. Some of you may not know this or may have seen its reruns. It is the story about a father and son who lived in a poor neighborhood. The boy’s mother had passed away and his father was a former baseball player for the Giants, but couldn’t play much because of his poor health. His sister acted as the mother in the house. The father by the name of Ittetsu Hoshi helps his son, Hyuma Hoshi build muscle and strength by making him wear something like a spring which he called the Major League Baseball Training Cast. The father made his son practice throwing a ball through a hole of a pillar and the son eventually developed the skill to throw magic balls. This show was on air from 6:30pm and public baths had no customers around that time in my childhood. No none went to a public bath when this show was on TV. Everyone sat in front of a TV to watch the show instead. People had hungry spirits back then. To put it bluntly, this show could have depicted a power harassment from a father to his son, but he entrusted his son with the dream of playing professionally and becoming a top baseball player, something that he couldn’t achieve himself. I lived in the era in which these things were accepted.

Additionally, there was another TV drama which was one generation older than the baseball show, called “Your name?” It is not the recent anime movie with the same title, but a live-action show, original story by Kazuo Kikuchi. The storyline was about a man and a woman who try to meet in Yurakucho, Tokyo but always missed each other. Public baths had no customers when this show was on. It was the time that something that would never happen in the age of cell phones or smart phones was a very important issue. I am sure that people’s sensitivity changed significantly between now and then.

Young People Need to Remind Themselves of “What Happens to One Today May Happen to Another Tomorrow”, and Never Forget “Politeness”

People are making fuss about power harassment and sexual harassment today. This is partially because we live in a somewhat advanced age, and people are satisfied with it. We lost a hungry spirit that urges us to move forward. We are currently in a period of long-term stagnation and people are sitting on the fence. If things are going to continue to decline, I think we can no longer afford to complain about power harassment or sexual harassment. We need to make another turnaround. Which way should we choose is the question. Young people don’t want older people to touch their wounds by pointing out their weaknesses. They don’t respect older people and have a very pessimistic view of their future with higher taxes. They may wish older people to vanish soon in their mind, but if older people really vanish and lose their income, then young people have to pay more taxes. They certainly don’t wish such reality, so they want older people to keep working, but they don’t want to be scolded by them. I am afraid to say that we are living in an age where young people become a little selfish.

I don’t mean to be harsh against young people, but I want to remind them to know “what happens to one today may happen to another tomorrow”; people who are 10 years younger than you will say the same thing to you; they will say, “You don’t even know this machine?” or “Don’t you have any common sense?”

Both young people and old people need to learn to understand each other. If young people want to feel that they are becoming an important person as they age, being polite and respectful to older people will be a very good tactic to protect yourselves. People can’t attack people who are polite and respectful. This applies to bad people. Even if a person is extremely rude, violent, or even criminal, he is very unlikely to speak ill of or use violence against a polite person. Being polite is a way to defend oneself.

My advice to young people who are excellent, but get hurt easily is to learn to be polite or well-mannered. For people who are a little older and serve in a position to instruct other people, I would advise them to understand that a Spartan approach is no longer acceptable today, so guide young people in the right direction while weaving in and out of loose balls.

“One becomes arrogant when overpraised” – it’s been said for a long time. It is true that young people long for praise. If you think the age you live in is advancing, it means that young people have been working hard. Older people need to see this in a bigger picture.

If society is not advancing but stagnating, older people need to recognize the present state and say, “We can’t say that you are doing well nor slacking off, but it is in a stagnation phase. We can’t go on like this forever.”
In a nutshell, while reminding oneself of “what happens to one today may happen to another tomorrow” or “what happens to one today may happen to another in 10 years”, it is important that each person needs to make effort to build a good relationship with others by taking one’s position into consideration.