成長のための愛 / Love for growth

今日は素敵な実話をお分けしたいと思います。

Today, I would like to share with my readers the following true story.

その先生が5年生の担任になった時、一人、服装が不潔でだらしなく、どうしても好きになれない少年がいました。生徒記録に先生は少年の悪いところばかりを記入するようになっていました。

When the teacher was in charge of the fifth grade, there was a boy who was filthy and wore dirty clothes. She didn’t get to like him by all means. In the student record, the teacher wrote only negative or bad points of the boy.

ある時、少年の一年生からの記録が目に止まりました。「朗らかで、友達が好きで、人にも親切。勉強もよくでき、将来が楽しみ」とあります。間違いだ、他の子の記録に違いない、先生はそう思いました。

One day, she noticed the history since he was the first grade. “He is cheerful, loves his friends and kind to people. He is also good at studying and has a bright future”. “It is wrong and must be a record of another child,” so she thought.

二年生になると、「母親が病気で世話をしなければならず、時々遅刻する」と書かれていました。三年生では「母親の病気が悪くなり、疲れていて、教室で居眠りをする」。後半の記録には「母親が死亡。希望を失い、悲しんでいる」とあり、四年生になると「父は生きる意欲を失い、アルコール依存症となり、子どもに暴力を振るう」と書いてありました。

When he was in the second grade, it was written that “mother is sick and I must take care of, and sometimes I am late for school.” The third-grade record said “My mother’s illness is getting worse and I am tired. So I fall asleep in the classroom.” In the latter half of the same record said, “My mother died. I lost hope, and I am sad.”, And in his 4th grade, he wrote, “My father lost his motivation to live and became alcoholism. He became violent against his children.”

先生の胸に激しい痛みが走りました。ダメと決め付けていた子が突然、深い悲しみを生き抜いている生身の人間として自分の前に立ち現れてきたのです。先生にとっては目を開かれた瞬間でした。放課後、先生は少年に声をかけました。「先生は夕方まで教室で仕事をするから、あなたも勉強していかない？分からないところは教えてあげるから」。少年は初めて笑顔を見せました。

The teacher felt strong pain in her heart. Suddenly one person appeared in front of her, who survived profound sorrow and sadness. Yes, it is the boy whom she labeled as a dropped-out student. It was a moment when her eyes were opened. She spoke to the boy after school. “As I work at school until evening, won’t you study until evening too? I will teach you whatever is difficult for you.” The boy showed her a smile for the first time.

それから毎日、少年は教室の自分の机で予習復習を熱心に続けました。授業で少年が初めて手をあげた時、先生におおきな喜びが沸き起こりました。少年は自信を持ち始めていました。

Since then, the boy kept on studying at his desk in the classroom every day. When the boy raised his hand for the first time in class, a great joy came up to teacher’s mind. The boy was nurturing his confidence little by little.

クリスマスの午後のことでした。少年が小さな包みを先生の胸に押し付けてきました。あとで開けてみると、香水の瓶でした。亡くなったお母さんが使っていたものに違いありません。先生はその一滴をつけ、夕暮れに少年の家を訪ねました。雑然とした部屋で独り本を読んでいた少年は、気がつくと飛んできて、先生の胸に顔を埋めて叫びました。「ああ、お母さんの匂い！きょうは素敵なクリスマスだ」

It was a Christmas afternoon. The boy pressed a small package on the teacher’s chest. It was a perfume bottle. His gone mother must have used it. She took a drop and visited boy’s house in the evening. The boy who was reading a book by himself in a cluttered room dashed to her as soon as he noticed and cried out with his face buried in her chest. “Oh, this is the smell of mother. What a nice Christmas today is!”

六年生では先生は少年の担任ではなくなりました。卒業の時、先生に少年から一枚のカードが届きました。「先生は僕のお母さんのようです。そして、いままで出会った中で一番すばらしい先生でした」

In the year of his sixth grade, the teacher was no longer a boy’s homeroom teacher. At the time of graduation, she received a card from the boy. “Teacher! You are like my mother. You are the most wonderful teacher I’ve ever met.”

それから六年。またカードが届きました。「明日は高校の卒業式です。僕は五年生で先生に担当してもらって、とても幸せでした。おかげで奨学金をもらって医学部に進学することができます」。

Six years later, another card arrived from him. “Tomorrow is a high school graduation ceremony. I was delighted that you took care of me as a homeroom teacher in my fifth grade. Many thanks to you, I could get a scholarship and admitted to medical school.”

十年を経て、またカードがきました。そこには先生と出会えたことへの深い感謝と父親に叩かれた体験があるから患者の痛みが分かる医者になれると記され、こう締めくくられていました。「僕はよく五年生の時の先生を思い出します。あのままだめになってしまう僕を救ってくださった先生を、神様のように感じます。大人になり、医者になった僕にとって最高の先生は、五年生の時に担任してくださった先生です」

Ten years later, another card came. He said he could be a doctor who feels the pain of patients because of the pains experienced by his father’s beating, with the deep gratitude of meeting with the teacher. The letter was concluded with saying, “I often remember the teacher at my fifth grade, I feel as if you are God who saved me from falling into the useless being. The best teacher for me who grown to be a doctor is you, the homeroom teacher at my fifth grade.”

そして一年。届いたカードは結婚式の招待状でした。そこには「母の席に座ってください」と一行、書き添えられていました。

And one year later, a card she received was an invitation to his wedding ceremony, with one line saying, “Please sit in the mother’s seat.”

この先生の素敵な生き方をを真似していきたい、と心の底から思いました。

I thought from the bottom of my heart that I would like to follow the way of living shown by this excellent teacher.