Four Legs at Birth...

An injured ankle, an old walking stick that once belonged to my father, and a small joke from my mother made me think about aging, dependence, and the strange way we notice other people’s pain only after experiencing our own.

The rainy season front, now pushed northward and stimulated by the typhoon, has brought heavy rain to the Tohoku region.

I am worried about my relatives who live there.

It seems that we, too, will have rain toward the weekend, so the situation still requires caution.

The pain in my injured right ankle is gradually subsiding, thankfully, but the swelling has not yet gone down.

Yesterday, my wife, worried about the way I was limping, went all the way to my family home in Tokyo to pick up one of my late father’s walking sticks.

Apparently, my mother was worried about me, too, but she also joked:

“Imagine Koroken needing a cane before I do. That makes me feel happy—as if I am still young.”

Well, in this case, it is only because of an injury. Sooner or later, I will probably be able to walk without a cane again.

But someday, even without any injury, a cane will become something I can no longer do without.

Today, if I had forced myself, I probably could have walked while dragging my foot.

But, as the Japanese saying goes, “A cane before a fall.”

Since my wife had gone to the trouble of bringing several canes back for me, I chose one.

It looked familiar.

Then I realized that it was probably the cane I had once given to my father, either for Father’s Day or for his birthday.

A quiet little act of SDGs, I muttered to myself.

The last time I used any kind of cane was when I sprained my ankle playing basketball as a student.

That was about forty years ago.

Back then, it was crutches.

The day before yesterday and yesterday, I happened to see people on crutches in several different places.

A man who looked like an office worker on the train home.

A student on a school trip who was standing in front of me in the station restroom.

And on the bus, someone who appeared to be a hospital staff member was also using crutches.

I realized that there are more people like this than I had imagined.

But perhaps I noticed them only because I myself was experiencing the inconvenience of foot pain.

Only after feeling pain ourselves do we notice the pain of others.

Human beings are, in that sense, thoroughly self-interested creatures.

Still, using a cane makes walking remarkably easier.

I am not exactly limping anymore.

At least, I feel as though I am walking normally.

Of course, I cannot run. And in the first place, I am walking with a cane.

For the time being, I may eventually return to life without one.

But just as in the riddle of the Sphinx, the day will come when I, too, can no longer walk without a cane.

I will think of this episode as a kind of rehearsal for that day.

A cane in my hand today may be only temporary, but someday it will become part of the answer to the Sphinx’s old riddle.

 

・・・

Vocabulary for Learners

rainy season front
A weather front associated with the rainy season, especially in East Asia.
秋雨前線。

be stimulated by
To become more active because of another force or influence.
〜に刺激される。

subside
To become weaker, smaller, or less severe.
痛み・腫れなどが収まる。

swelling
A part of the body becoming larger because of injury or inflammation.
腫れ。

limp
To walk with difficulty because one leg or foot hurts.
足を引きずって歩く。

late father
A polite way to refer to one’s father who has passed away.
亡父。

walking stick / cane
A stick used to support someone while walking.
杖。

A cane before a fall
A translated version of the Japanese proverb “korobanu-saki-no-tsue” meaning it is wise to prepare before trouble happens.
転ばぬ先の杖。

crutches
Two supports used under the arms or at the forearms when someone cannot walk normally.
松葉杖。

self-interested
Thinking first about oneself or noticing things mainly when they affect oneself.
現金な、自己中心的な。

the riddle of the Sphinx
The ancient riddle in which a human being walks on four legs as a baby, two legs as an adult, and three legs in old age with a cane.
スフィンクスの謎かけ。

rehearsal
Practice before the real event happens.
予行演習。

#Aging #WalkingStick #Sphinx #JapaneseEssay #DailyLife #ColoKen