As usual an explosion of thoughts. The expectation of care. Whether the old ones see themselves as the caretakers of the amae or they finally don't care about stuffing down every neg thought and emotion and are letting fly. As far as initiative I found much of the same with the European exchange students I hosted. Zero ability to step up and just DO something. There had to be precedent, rules, and specific instructions and permissions. Seriously, those kids wouldn't fix themselves a bowl of cereal no matter how hungry and two of them didn't even know HOW to fix a bowl of cereal. Imagine being 17 years old and not knowing how corn flakes work. This sounds a little cruddy but I am surprised the Japanese bother to educate their special needs kids. If anything I'd assume they kept them locked up out of shame. Or warehoused in institutions out of sight/out of mind. Terrific piece! ~LA
I had been trying to articulate what I've been missing about the Northeastern US and why I also have enjoyed the break from it. It's nice to trust your surroundings enough to surrender to it, but that also seems to mean giving up our creative energy in the process. We can't have our cake and eat it, too, I guess.
As usual an explosion of thoughts. The expectation of care. Whether the old ones see themselves as the caretakers of the amae or they finally don't care about stuffing down every neg thought and emotion and are letting fly. As far as initiative I found much of the same with the European exchange students I hosted. Zero ability to step up and just DO something. There had to be precedent, rules, and specific instructions and permissions. Seriously, those kids wouldn't fix themselves a bowl of cereal no matter how hungry and two of them didn't even know HOW to fix a bowl of cereal. Imagine being 17 years old and not knowing how corn flakes work. This sounds a little cruddy but I am surprised the Japanese bother to educate their special needs kids. If anything I'd assume they kept them locked up out of shame. Or warehoused in institutions out of sight/out of mind. Terrific piece! ~LA
I had been trying to articulate what I've been missing about the Northeastern US and why I also have enjoyed the break from it. It's nice to trust your surroundings enough to surrender to it, but that also seems to mean giving up our creative energy in the process. We can't have our cake and eat it, too, I guess.