Gratitude and a song of hope from children in Japan

A Christian Science perspective: One year after the tsunami and earthquake struck Japan, some schoolchildren thank the world with a song.

Recently I watched a television program that featured singer/songwriter Tatsuya Ishi’i, a well-known performer in Japan, working with children who had experienced the earthquake and tsunami a year ago. The broadcast was part of a series of reports on a program in which professionals return to their elementary school or high school to work with students on a project.

Mr. Ishi’i’s project was to write a song compiled from the children’s impressions or experiences last year during and after the disaster. Every child contributed something except for one student. Her notebook was empty. She couldn’t find any words. That empty page in the notebook spoke more than the words would have, and Ishi’i, too, became speechless, feeling the depth of what these children had gone through.

After he set their contributions to music, he asked the class what they wanted to call the song. To his surprise, the student with the blank page in her notebook raised her hand and said, “Sekai ni arigato,” “Thank you for the world.”

She then began to speak. The song reminded her that as soon as boxes of supplies began to arrive with relief aid from other countries, she noticed many boxes had pictures of different flags on them, representing the country the box came from. Many children for the first time realized they were part of a much bigger world – people who looked different and spoke different languages cared about them. These boxes became the ambassadors. And the children, in turn, began to act as ambassadors to those in their community.

In the news, we saw children in upper-grade schools caring for senior citizens – talking with them and giving them shoulder and back rubs after they’d sat and slept on the hard gym floor for days, sometimes weeks.

Many interviews showed how quickly these children matured, not in the sense that they wanted to act like adults, but that they were able to unselfishly discern others’ needs. The ability to act unselfishly is innate in every child. This ability is a spiritual quality – part of the nature of God’s children, who belong to His caring and harmonious family.

Ishi’i recently commented on his project with these children. He said we need to protect and care for them, cherish and honor them more. It’s not that children can easily rise above stress and challenges, but the natural inclination of these children who faced disaster was to find goodness and hope even in the midst of it.

This comment brings to mind something Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered Christian Science, wrote: “Children should be allowed to remain children in knowledge, and should become men and women only through growth in the understanding of man’s higher nature” (“Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” p. 62). It is not by adding years that we grow but by understanding man’s spiritual nature. The way the children responded to others indicates to me that they acted upon their spiritual nature. 

That interview also reminded me of Christ Jesus’ response to his disciples’ question about who would be greatest among them. He called a little child to him and said, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest” (see Luke 9:46-48, New International Version).

As these children give deepest gratitude to the world, I would like to give thanks to them – to the children who have brought back joy to many affected areas and to families who had to move from their hometowns because of radiation pollution. When I see children looking forward to so much good in their lives even when they don’t see it yet, I am reminded of this Bible verse: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). Children live now – this very moment – to detect goodness, blessings, and gratitude. They feel generous and innately know unconditional love for all. They want all to receive the good they feel and have.

So thank you, not just to the children here in Japan, but to all the children in the world. You may be small, but you are a very bright light that everyone can see. And you help make adults more closely united. Although at times you may seem to be least, you are greatest in our world.

For a Japanese translation of this article, see The Herald of Christian Science.

To receive Christian Science perspectives daily or weekly in your inbox, sign up today.

To learn more about Christian Science, visit ChristianScience.com.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Gratitude and a song of hope from children in Japan
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/A-Christian-Science-Perspective/2012/0311/Gratitude-and-a-song-of-hope-from-children-in-Japan
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe