One more week until Ritsuko goes into the hospital to have her thyroid and all the more-than-likely cancerous tumors in her neck removed. She will be hospitalized for 2-4 weeks, during which time Masashi will be attending a nursery school/day care 5 hours a day. Ritsuko's sister will help during the times I cannot get off work early to get Masashi.
I really have no fear for Ritsuko during this process; I'm positive she will come through everything fine. It is cancer (most likely), though, and with any cancer death is a possibility. This fact has made us both stop and think about how precious our short lives really are. I'm sure anyone who has ever had cancer or had someone close to them with cancer has had the same thoughts.
That made me think of something. If you don't care what I think about (my rantings), please skip down to where you see "So, I have posted new pictures of Masashi. . ." below.
I listen to podcasts of NPR, ABC Nightline, and other news-type programs everyday on my iPod. A lot of the stories (especially ABC) deal with some type of religious theme or subject. After spending almost 4 years in Japan, I've come to realize the important role religion plays in America. From politics to work to chatter at school, active religion is everywhere. This brings me to what I though of: I remember (from long, long ago) people saying something to the effect "It's all in God's plan" or "The Lord does everything for a reason" when they wish to comfort somebody dealing with some kind of hardship or lose. Now, if you think about it, and I mean REALLY think about it, what kind of person would say such a cruel, heartless thing to a person in a time of distress? I mean, REALLY, people! Only a society that views human torture, suffering, and sacrificial death as a means to a good end (oh, wait. . ., how did that story about Jesus go?) would tell a distressed person that the supernatural being that created and rules the universe PURPOSEFULLY brough injury or death, via its plan, to them or their loved one? I like the spiel about the devil being responsible for bad stuff much more than this. So, I warn you: anyone who might wish to comfort me in this way would be better off saying nothing at all.
Now, say you have never pondered how so many bad things could happen in a universe where some loving, caring superbeing is watching over everything. You fall in to one of two categories: A. You believe the superbeing is not really THAT loving and forgiving and punishes people, sometimes like Sodom & Gomorrah (for doing obviously "bad" things) and sometime like Job (who never did anything "wrong"). OK, can't argue. or B. You never thought very hard about it (at least not by yourself, all alone, outside of the zealous fervor of some religious function) and need to read something like Elie Weisel's Night.
That's another thing I've been worrying about recently. Getting roughed up by Mormons here in Japan every now and again is one thing, but back in America! No, it's not Mormons in particular I'm worried about. Readjusted to a society where so much revolves around religion and religious participation will be interesting, to say the least. Ah, just another adventure! The more interesting adventure will be exploring how to get out of paying as much state and federal income taxes as possible! WIth all the churches, you would THINK America could take care of its social problems solely through the use of private institutions. Yeah.
So, I have posted new pictures of Masashi, if you are still interested in looking at them. Masashi has been doing so many cute things recently. The best is the way he shakes his head "no" when he doesn't want or want to do something. He really understands just about everything we say to him, in either English or Japanese or a mixture of both. He even understands how to seperate the trash (and I'm not talking about just bottles and cans). He's begun playing people and animal toys in a way as to make them "do" stuff. He likes making stuff "nene," or go to sleep. He also makes his dog eat out of its bowl, and even makes an eating sound! Now, he did learn that by watching me do it, but I only did it once. I really have to be careful what I do, actually. It only takes seeing something one time for him to pick up on it.
So, here are those pictures.
