The beginning is important!
Due to the COVID-19, the number of bulling is increasing. Especially at the beginning for a school term, and also cases for much younger population has been increasing. Many of us may worry that either our family members or ourselves might fall into such situation. The schools teach that bullying is wrong, yet such words do not reach to people. What should we do?
Yukichi Fukuzawa, famous for being printed on a 10,000 Yen bill, is the author of “Gakumon no susume (academic recommendations)”. Recently, I found that he also wrote a book called “Hibino oshie (daily teaching)”, a book for his sons. The original book was written mostly in Hiragana letters. Some of his teachings say “fear the heaven, respect it, and follow it… The heaven I mention is the Creator. In Western world, they call him God.” (“The samurais who read the Bible, by Yoshimasa Moribe)
Fukuzawa himself was not a Christian, but he had friends who were missionaries, and used the Bible as his reference. In the Bible, it says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. (Proverbs 1:7).” He probably wanted to teach this to his children.
When we know the existence of God who created the world and learn to fear Him, our life will change. You will know that God created not only you, but your neighbors. By knowing that, bullying would disappear, and stating to respect others. And this is the first thing we should learn. Without God, there is no solution to this problem.
Within the family members of Yukichi Fukuzawa, three children and many grandchildren became Christians. Whatever we learn when we were young, would make differences in later life. For myself, I want to teach my children the teaching of the Bible, and hope they would become adults who respect others. I wish children and youth to find how wonderful the Bible teachings are.
Youth Pastor Kenshiro Goto
