Going to battle
Whenever I think about primary and secondary school, there is bound to be a memory of someone lamenting why they have to read in the first place. The novel, fiction or nonfiction, could be very uplifting as well as entertaining, but they still whine about it being "boring". Villifying (sp?) the novel in question is just wrong to me. Many of my friends in school didn’t read books outside of the required reading just because they didn’t want to labeled a bookworm or a nerd.
There was one time where I was reading a library book in homeroom. A couple of guys started to snickering and made fun of me for reading. They couldn’t see the entertainment value of it which is hard for me to understand. It stung not because I was ashamed of reading, I was hurt because they didn’t know of how much new ideas and places they were missing out. (Hopefully, that makes sense.)
Okay, back to the present. I realized that of all the Murakami novels and short story collections that I’ve read thus far, A Wild Sheep Chase didn’t seem that entertaining. The novel was sitting in my old backpack when I was rummaging through it for another book. It dawned on me that the reason I didn’t find it enjoyable was because I rushed through it. (horrible habit, that is.) I bought it when I was living on the streets and couldn’t sit in one place for too long or else someone may have gotten suspicious. Reading was my only way to keep sane during that time.
I began reading it again, absorbing every juicy literary tidbit that I can find. My eyes have a weird way to skip over entire paragraphs when I go in auto mode. Anyway this made a smile come to my face:
‘ "Awful traffic, " I said.
"That it is, but sure as dawn follows night, it’s got to let up sometime."
"Fair enough, but doesn’t that get on your nerves?"
"Certainly, I get irritated, I get upset. Especially when I’m in a hurry. But I see it all as part of our training. To get irritated is to lose our way in life."
"That sounds like a religious interpretation of a traffic jam if there ever was one."
"I’m a Christian. I don’t go to church, but I’ve always been a Christian."
"Is that so? Don’t you see any contradiction between being a Christian and being the chauffeur for a major right-wing figure?"
"The Boss is an honorable man. After the Lord, the most godly person I’ve ever met."
"You’ve met God?"
"Certainly. I telephone Him every night."
"Excuse me?" I stammered. Things were starting to jumble up in my head again. "If everyone called God, wouldn’t the lines be busy all the time? Like directory assistance right around noon?"
"No problem there. God is your simultaneous presence. So even if a million people were to telephone Him at once, He’d be able to speak with everyone simultaneously."
"I’m no expert, but is that an orthodox interpretation? I mean, theologically speaking."
"I’m something of a radical. That’s why I don’t go to church."
"I see," I said. …
"The Boss gave me it a few years ago, " said the chaffeur out of nowhere.
"Gave you what?"
"God’s telephone number."
I let out a groan so loud it drowned out everything else. Either I was going crazy or they were all Looney Tunes.
"He told just you, alone, in secret?"
"Yes. Just me, in secret. He’s a fine gentleman. Would you care to get to know Him?"
"If possible," I said.
"Well, then, it’s Tokyo 9-4-5 …"
"Just a second," I said, pulling out my notebook and pen. "But do you really think it’s all right, telling me like this?"
"Sure, it’s all right. I don’t go out telling just anyone. And you seem like a good person."
"Well, thank you," I said. "But what should I talk to God about? I’m not a Christian or anything."
"No problem there. All you have to do is to speak honestly about whatever concerns you or troubles you. No matter how trivial you might think it is. God never gets bored and never laughs at you."
"Thanks. I’ll give him a call."
"That’s the spirit.," said the chaffeur.
Traffic began to flow smoothly as the Shinjuku skyscrapers came into view. We didn’t speak the rest of the way there." ‘
I should be more awake for my entries often. 🙂