OBACHAN'S SCRIBBLES

Sunday, August 23, 2009

IT'S NICE TO FEEL USEFUL

The weather has been summer-like the whole past week. Yesterday I joined a group of people who cleaned the beach. As I wrote in a previous post, this part of the prefecture is applying for UNESCO Geopark status, and some people from related organization are coming to visit this town at the end of August. Of course, we want to show them our hospitality and give a good impression. That's why local folks of middle-age and above spent a few hours on the beach on a sunny summer day, being soaked in sweat. No, no, this is not a complaint. I thought it was a good thing to do and felt good about being part of it. I enjoyed talking and working with people who are not my parents. Honestly.

In addition to community involvement like this, I've been doing some translation at home. It's not a paid job -- just a volunteer work. But it makes me feel good about myself because I'm being useful to others.

Yeah, I'm feeling much better now than I was in July and early August.
Definitely better.
posted by obachan, 8/23/2009 07:39:00 PM

3 Comments:

Such a nice weather for over a week. We are getting spoiled!
Sun, people and stars sure make us feel better.
Beach cleaning is so rewarding and at the same time so frustrating, I do it whenever I am in the beach. It never ends. Beaches may start to be clean when we all take care of the environment to impress not only visitors but ourselves. If the UNESCO thing mobilizes people,great! it is already a step forward. International organizations have such a charisma status in Japan.
commented by Anonymous Odoriko, 8/24/2009 11:46 AM  
Awww I should do something like that too! Contribute to society!
commented by Blogger Aleanor, 8/25/2009 4:54 PM  
Odoriko;
You clean the beach that often? Boy, you're a real nature lover. Why don't you move into this town?
;)

I should say that people are more ecology-conscious now, compared to -- let's say, 30 years ago. When I was small, I would see a lot of broken TVs, fridges and laundry machines piled up on our beach. I hate to say this but it is part of the reality: some people in big cities used to see (or still do?) a super-rural place like my hometown nothing but their huge garbage pale. And it is also part of the reality that the only way for such inaka to make money used to be accepting the garbage, incl. industrial waste and nuclear waste.

So, you see how important it is for us to have the geological assets in our area acknowledged internationally, instead of being treated as a garbage pale? It's important not only for our economy but for our self-esteem.

Aleanor;
I used to avoid taking part in community events/activities, because, for some reason, those who love to do things like that looked kind of bossy to me. But I guess it was my stereotype. I enjoyed working with most of them (and yeah, some of them were really bossy. hahaha...).
commented by Blogger obachan, 8/31/2009 7:25 AM  

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