Yesterday I went to Hachioji to check the area for our future event, and there I felt a warmth of someone's heart.

    He was the shop owner of a small vegetable store in a sort of marginal district, and there were no customer at the shop nor a passerby.

    I wanted to go to an oden stand, which is also located in that depopulated area, and I drove the car into a narrow alley that happened to be in front of the vegetable store. It was a narrow lane, and the shop's awning was attached low that I was worried that my car's roof carrier might scrach the lowest part of the sunshade.

    Then, a guy maybe in his 60's came out to see if my car could go through, and he gave me a gesture to steer in the right way. When finding that it was a little difficult, he came to the window and asked me where I wanted to go. I answered that I was headed to the oden shop in his neighborhood. Then, he said he would lift up the awning for my car to pass through. I politely declined and told him I will back my car to find another route. He attended me caring the car body, and told me the route to get there.

    I looked into his eyes, and I saw something warm and genuine in them. At the same time, they were eyes that had been through pains and hardship of life. "Accepting eyes" might be the correct way to describe what I saw. He was a god, because he did all not for his own benefit but for a stranger's sake out of his helping mind.

    I am quite sure that his store in the depopulated area isn't making tons of money, if there's anything. Well, he is aged, and selling vegetables at the small corner of the alley probably is all about of his life, and he has nowhere else to go. However, he could have done better by pursuing his income first and moving out to somewhere else with more people living around. However, he didn't do that. Why?

    Well, I don't even know his name, but I know his soul. He prioritized helping people to making money for himself. I am sure that the sinking area accomodates aged people who cannot go anywhere, one of them being himself. Just as he did help me asking for no return, he has been serving the area and the people.

    He helped me with his empty hand without showing any signs of greed. Now, is it the end of the story? No, it shouldn't be. It's my turn to return my goodness to him, just like the cane, in the fairy tale, who changed her shape into a women to return a kindness she got from a man by becoming his wife and helping him back.

    His way of communication might be seen outdated maybe, and he is probably not a winner, but I respect this small ordinary man unknown to anyone more than those who are known by many. He made himself known to me as a god, so I will go to that vegetable stand in Hachioji as frequently as possible because he casted me that sorrowful and yet accepting look, and I felt his warm heart.

The address of this shop: 551-2, Nagafusacho, Hachioji-city, Tokyo, 〒193-0824

Writer : David Yasui, Organizer of SoC

This oden also warmed up my body and heart!

1. Share your experience where you felt a warmth of human recently.