My old friend came back to Okayama University as a professor this April, where we graduated from a quarter of a century ago. I was happy to hear that and went to Okayama city to see him and say "Congratulations!" We met for the first time in 25 years.
We invited a teacher who taught us a lot of valuable lessons when we were university students. He is about 80, and has an eye problem. We felt sorry to see him because he was very active and passionate or crazy about many things; skiing, hunting, bowling, water-skiing, baking cakes and teaching young people,,,in those days. I had thought he would never get old.
However, the story of my old friend was uplifting. He had gone to Indonesia for three years to study malaria just after getting his PhD in postgraduate school. In Indonesia he thought it was not enough to treat people one by one and he was eager to treat a whole area of people. He got to want to handle administration-related tasks. Consequently, he was warmly welcomed to the Japanese Health and Welfare Ministry after his research in Indonesia.
After a while, he was sent to Geneva as a WHO official. Finally he began to work on the frontiers of world hygiene science. He was going to work there the rest of his life, but Japan didn't permit his desire. He didn't talk about this, but I imagine that Japan needed his ability. AIDS, SARS, Bird Flu,,,. He might be in step with the times.
We had a common acquaintance. In about 1996, a classy middle-aged lady visited my house. She was a former American diplomat and the wife of the WHO Secretary General. She had a strong interest in the Shikoku 88 temples pilgrimage and she was asking information about the pilgrimage using the CompuServe Bulletin Board Service. Shikoku is my home. I found her comments on the board but I just kept watching because I didn't have any confidence in CompuServe communications and I thought someone would help her. However, no one replied to her comments, so I tried to post my comment with my chin up for the first time. CompuServe was an American-based computer network service and very few Japanese access it, I thought.
Anyway she actually came to Japan. I didn't know anything about her except her name until I met her. I had only imagined that she was a kind of young backpacker. So, when I met her for the first time, I was very surprised at her Japanese and gentleness. She could speak Japanese very fluently. "Why?" "My husband is Japanese. I was a diplomat and learned some languages." "Wow..!"
My parents' house is big and Japanese-style and maybe attractive for Americans. I proposed that she stay one night with us if she wanted. She replied that she'd like to, but she had an appointment with Mrs. Hilary Clinton in Beijing the next day and had to leave here that day. I was at a loss for words. "Have a teatime with Mrs. Clinton?! Who is this lady?" That year was the International Women's Year and the international meeting was held in Beijing.
I talked to my old friend about these stories in more detail. The world might not be so large as we think.
He showed me the miserable situations of the Third World. I'd like to do something if I can. Now I have three ball-and-chains, I mean daughters! After they are independent, my time will come!
This meeting was a wake-up call for me. I must be more and more trained.
(Vocabulary)
uplifting (人を) 幸せな気分にする, 気持ち［精神］が高揚する（ような）
in step with ～と歩調を合わせて［そろえて］、～とともに、～に一致して、～と調和して
leader who is in step with times 時代が求めるリーダー
walk with one's chin up 顔を上げて（明るく元気に）歩く
ball and chain 《常に単数形で》束縛, 足かせ; (囚人を拘束しておく) 鎖付きの鉄球, 足かせ; (ユーモラス) 夫［妻］, お荷物
trained 〈人が〉 訓練を積んだ
a trained nurse 訓練を積んだ看護師
(Key Words: Martha Nakajima, Shikoku 88 temples pilgrimage)
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