Be Rebellious, Kids!

  "Listen, okay? You shouldn't do such a thing ever again. Be good, or otherwise, I will tell Santa Claus not to give you a Christmas gift for this year, okay?"

    "Alright, mom. I'm sorry."

    You probably have heard this kind of conversation between a parent and their kid. By nature, kids are often wild and rebellious, so it makes sense that parents want to make their kids listen to what they have to say. Yes, humans are not born as social beings, but they are raised to become socially accepted beings. And the educational training process is a necessary initiation to society. We learn how we all are supposed to behave in public without causing trouble to others.

    However, when you look at some heroes in history, you'll notice that those who changed the course of historical events weren't necessarily just nice and obedient people. They had something very pure in their heart that attracted other people for sure, but they were often super aggressive and rebellious against the establishment or social expectations to live up to their wills. Before publicly seen as heroes, a lot of them were just pains in their societies.

     Tadanobu Ina, who also went by the name of Hanzaemon, was one of the local lords who was assigned to supervise the restoration of Mikuriya area in Odawara after the huge eruption of Mt. Fuji in 1707. His mission was to remove volcanic rocks and ash from the bottom of Sakawa River, which is also called Ayu River locally, and also to make levees to prevent flooding.

    The area was located at the foot of Mt. Fuji, and the damage done was devastating. In addition, different from other areas managed directly under the central government, Edo Bakufu, Odawara area was independently managed by Odawara local government. For those two reasons, the central government weren't so willing to support the people in the area. Indeed, it took almost a hundred years till the area was almost completely restored. And the purpose the government sent him to the area wasn't to save the local people's lives but to restore the infrastructure of the area to prevent second disasters to occur. In other words, the area was abandoned by the central government and no support was done for the local people in Mikuriya area.

    When Hanzaemon arrived the area, he was shocked by the horrible situation local people were going through. The whole area was covered in deep volcanic ash, and there were no food provisions that many of them were starved to death. He hired many of the locals into the project to help them financially, but it did only a little to solve the problem they were facing.

    He was a righteous person with a brave heart, and he couldn't just ignore the problem he saw. He knew that there was a huge food storage of the central government in Odawara that has enough supplies to help them. On the other hand, he knew that the government would never allow him to use those supplies to help the local people it abandoned.

    What he did was remarkable. He opened up the storage and gave those supplies to the local people. For him, saving the life diminishing in front of him was more important than committed to the mission he was given by the government. The local area was saved by his big decision, but he was soon discharged and sent to death for what he did against the government's order.

    The local people had never forgotten what he did for them in sacrifice of his life. He has been enshrined in the local shrine named Ina Shrine, and the locals still respect him and remember what he had done for them.

    If Hanzaemon was just a submissive guy who always listen to his boss, he probably wouldn't do the same, because working for the government based on the order he was given would just raised his position and income, and doing things against somebody who's paying you is not seen as a good gesture in general.

    However, he did the opposite. Instead of benefiting himself, he followed his heart as a human being. Yes, he was a rebellious guy, and that's why the central government executed him for his betrayal. On the other hand, his rebelliousness saved thousands of people's lives. He became the hero for the locals who gained life on his brave decision.

    What can we learn from this story? And what does it mean to become a social being? Listening to your parents, teachers, and bosses throughout your life for the benefit of it on your side? Oh well, becoming a social sheep is not the same as becoming a social being. Social beings need to be able to communicate their independent wills and ideas even when it can cause a conflict. We've been told so many times to be good and obedient, but it's about a time to start teaching our kids to be rebellious sometimes, following their hearts.

    "Mom, I ain't got no Christmas gifts, but I got myself going to live who I am."

    "...What did you just say?"

    "Well, I'm a cool rebel!"

    "Okay, then I'll stop giving snacks and monthly allowance to you."

    "Mom, I'm just kidding!"

Questions

1. What does "be good" mean, in general, when parents tell this to their kids?

2. Why did the boy apologized to his mom in the first-paragraph conversation?

3. What do you think is the difference between a social being and a socially accepted being?

4. According to the author, what kind of attributes did some historical heroes have?

5.  What was Tadanobu Ina's mission given by the central government?

6. How different was Mikuriya area from other places?

7. Why did Tadanobu Ina went against the government's order and gave the supplies to the local pepole?

8. What would he have done if he was just a submissive guy who always followed the given orders?

9. What is a social sheep?

Translation

Make sure to;

1. Try to read the writer's mind.

2. Find out the thesis of the essay.

3. Imagine the setting and translate it into adequate expressions.

4. Try not to focus only on words but implied nuance so you would keep the spirit in the original alive.

5. Reflect cultural differences, if necessary, to make it easy for readers to comprehend the message correctly.

抑えるべきポイント；

1．書き手の頭の中を読み取りましょう。

2．エッセイの核（一番伝えたい中心メッセージ）を見つけましょう。

3． 場面を想定し、ふさわしい表現を使って訳するようにしましょう。

4．言葉だけではなく、言葉にならないニュアンスの部分に注意を払い、原文が持つ響きを活かしましょう。

5．読み手がメッセージを正しく理解できるように、必要に応じて、文化的な背景の違いもまた反映しましょう。

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