Lately I have been thinking a lot about my future. I know what choices are set in stone and I do not plan on changing those, however there is one decision that continues to nag at me.
About a year ago, I made the decision to not permanently live in Japan like I had originally planned. The factors affecting this decision are numerous, but for some reason the final verdict has not sat right with me. It has been 5 years since my last visit to Japan, but the memories I have are ingrained in stone and haven’t even begun to fade away. I honestly do not know how to feel about it, considering that the way my mind works, I am likely to forget anything I have done 5 years ago. But for some reason, everyday is still etched in my mind and I constantly think about it, especially in the months leading up too and after my trip. I can’t even begin to fathom why I feel the way I do about the country, considering my interaction with it was only a 2-week experience and then conversations with various natives of the island. Yet, something about Japan calls to me, it feels like home, no matter how I try to look at it. Honestly, I do not know what to do or think about it. The only think I can constantly reflect on is the fact that I miss Japan dearly, and the people I met there. I miss my host sister, and the people who graciously helped me learn more about the country. I miss by baby sister Miyu, who I met one day and cannot ever forget about even though I havent seen her in almost a year.
It’s a strange feeling, this is. I do not know how to act on it or where to go. I know that by choosing to move to Japan, I will cut ties here that I do not want to cut. Yet, if I choose to stay here, I will always have that void. It’s painful, to say the least.
Thoughts?
What are your opinions of the new APPR that is currently in effect in the New York State Department of Education? How do you believe this will affect teachers in the larger picture?
Love this. So true.1. “Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.”
2. “Forgiveness is a strange thing. It can sometimes be easier to forgive our enemies than our friends. It can be hardest of all to forgive people we love. Like all of life’s important coping skills, the ability to forgive and the capacity to let go of resentments most likely take root very early in our lives.”
3. “Love and trust, in the space between what’s said and what’s heard in our life, can make all the difference in the world. ”
4. “The child is in me still and sometimes not so still.”
5. “Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime’s work, but it’s worth the effort.”
6. “Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people.”
7. “I don’t think anyone can grow unless he’s loved exactly as he is now, appreciated for what he is rather than what he will be.”
8. “There are three ways to ultimate success:
The first way is to be kind.
The second way is to be kind.
The third way is to be kind.”
9. “Feeling good about ourselves is essential in our being able to love others.”
10. “Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now.”
11. “Try your best to make goodness attractive. That’s one of the toughest assignments you’ll ever be given.”
12. “The connections we make in the course of a life–maybe that’s what heaven is.”
Pippin: I didn’t think it would end this way.
Gandalf: End? No, the journey doesn’t end here. Death is just another path… One that we all must take. The grey rain-curtain of this world rolls back, and all turns to silver glass… And then you see it.
Pippin: What? Gandalf?… See what?
Gandalf: White shores… and beyond, a far green country under a swift sunrise.
Pippin: [smiling] Well, that isn’t so bad.
Gandalf: [softly] No… No it isn’t.
| — | The Return of the King (Movie) |
