Utterly unabashed, how else to show it? Fish swimming in an eye-reflected ocean, true text full of life materialising; droplet piano keys, oceanic feelings, symbiosis in a thumb;
‘Life… stretches out before them,’ guided by the Earth Mother from the height of a stainless plaza; clouds drift, ocean revealed, smile child in pondering thought, new tears in a still lake: ‘This is their story.’
‘Be ready.’
No meaning veiled, no need. The early cultivation of an empathetic heart is the story; to imagine the self within the other, to see the rabbit in the moon. Who coupled sentimentality with foolishness? To feel grateful for what is given was once called wisdom. Listen, as the lyrics request, to ‘the seashell’s tale’;
Toshiro Kanamuri cools me out. In fifty minutes, four key lessons, helping kids swim the inner river, the guide, free passage to all who let go. Kanamuri is Education Walking, hence the meaning, e-ducere, “to lead or draw forth” – not a mere one-way authority but a releaser, an unraveller. Every inch of every simple truth closely examined, written about, spoken, understood.
“Grandma was dead. She seemed to be asleep. But she was dead. When it was time for her to go, we put flowers in her coffin. Tears were pouring down my face, everyone was crying. We went by bus to the crematorium. In about one hour, Grandma was turned into bones. Grandma was gone. I was sad.”
In how many classrooms do such words resound? Death recurs in Full of Life, not shunned or swept away, but discussed. Through this event an even greater secret is revealed, and catharsis ensues.
“Of [the] two attitudes toward death, one views death as something to scurry away from and the other as something that will just take care of itself. How far they both are from understanding death's true significance!” - Sogyal Rinpoche, The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying.
After this, new lessons: bullying confronted, picked apart, resolved through ownership and empathy. Then: a chattering student banned from rafting, yet rescued as friends rise to his defence: “Yuto shouldn’t have been talking so much in class. But it’s partly our fault, too. We can’t just leave him behind. That’s not fair. If he stays behind, I will, too.”
‘A perfect victory,’ states Kanamuri. Friendship is viable, worth nurturing, and a realizable virtue.
Key lessons for every school, and with what is taught now, which subjects enrich our capacity for love? The question is one of emphasis. To strengthen bonds, Kanamuri encourages vulnerability, and guides each day with letters as a voice for inner thoughts. Death is a shared experience, and friendship the highest ideal.
Kanamuri’s final words leave an imprint: “All the things we did together in the last two years. We were all doing what we can to understanding the meaning of life. We can all be proud of it.”
Can every stretch of school end on this note?
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