Thinking of the Future of Our Children
I often hear it said that it is democratic that we should leave our children
to decide their own future. Can you say so without any doubt? Will they not need any pilot to guide them in the long voyage of life?
I think it is very unkind of parents to leave their children alone. Some
parents have little hesitation about compelling their children to engage
in their family occupations even if they are unwilling to. If the children
often hear their parents complaining of their family occupations, they
will be inevitably unwilling to succeed their parents.
Aren't we too intent on encouraging our children to enter colleges of
the first rank as if there were a guarantee that a rosy future would result
from the entrance into that kind of colleges? If we think much of sending our children to colleges and make light of
the painful efforts which they have made, can there be anything else crueler
to our children?
Just as balloons are of various sizes and colors, so our children are of
very different caliber; some of them are of large caliber, but regrettably
others are not of large caliber, that is to say, not every one can be a
Hideyoshi Toyotomi or a Takamori Saigo.
We should not be pessimistic of their caliber even if it is not large.
The most important thing is to cultivate and improve their in-born caliber
to the fullest. A small balloon is splendid and bright when it is filled
out, and on the contrary a large one is poor and wretched when it is deflated.
Their happiness does not depend on how large their caliber is but how industriously
they try to lead a life worthy of man.
If we have been watching our sons and daughters growing up since their
childhood, we are expected to know exactly how large their caliber is.
We should instruct them not to be idle or to be possessed by inferiority,
but to walk boldly and fearlessly along the way they want to. This is the
fundamental thing to be taken into consideration in guiding our children.
