I hope all of you had a good Easter yesterday. Mine was non-traditional but enjoyable. Last year it came so early that I had only been in Japan a week, school had yet to start, and the cherries weren't blossoming. So I wandered around a very foreign town where no one was celebrating anything, and it was rather lonely. This year, because of the sakura, there was a small festival in the park on Sunday. There was dancing, some drumming, and a good deal of karaoke-enka of varying quality. Though they weren't having the same holiday as I was, the families picnicing and the children playing gave off the same feeling. Only missing the eggs.
So I sat on the grass and soaked up the ambiance and read John McGahern's memoir "All Will be Well" and my Bible. A few words on the former - the first part is very touching and beautifully written but then the mother dies. After that it's nothing but a dirty laundry list of complaints against the father - I'm sure it was very cathartic for the author but it doesn't make for very interesting reading. We get that he wasn't a pleasant person, it's not necessary to quote every single angry letter he wrote. And a few words on the latter... sometimes the Bible makes me dizzy. It's mind-boggling that, in 1st Corinthians for example, there can be something as inspiring as the Love Is passage, and in the very next chapter, something as nauseating as:
34women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says. 35If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
I spent some time flipping the pages back and forth trying to reconcile the two, and finally gave up and just let the cherry blossoms blow over me into calm.
Besides, when I see a picture like that... I really don't see the appeal of putting childish ways behind me.
No comments:
Post a Comment