Carrying the Past and Letting It Sink: [Creative Awards 2024 Review]

Please first take a look at Suzumura-san's heartfelt article.

Although I have labeled this a review, I simply cannot bring myself to cover such profound content with what one might call a review; it would be too presumptuous. Therefore, I would like to title this humble piece a "resonance essay." And as a substitute, I will write about my previous job, my very first one, below.

I used to work in a place close to the prison system. It is a position that is no longer being recruited for, so I imagine many of you are unfamiliar with it. I was a traffic patrol officer, a parking enforcement officer. I worked in the traffic section of a local police station in the city. Job title: Traffic Patrol Officer, Rank: Administrative Official. My colleagues included detectives.

“Never forget this. Even if you resign, your history as a police employee will not disappear. At the very least, it will remain in the prefectural police data. It will follow you. Do you know what will follow you?”
“Yes. If I were to commit a crime, that is when it would, right?”

I once had a conversation like this. The detective who asked me this nodded quietly once, as if to affirm my answer.

As Suzumura-san also mentions, crime looks nothing like what is depicted in dramas. To put it further, atonement lasts a lifetime. I, too, carry my own atonement. For the things I could not prevent due to my own immaturity in enforcement and guidance.

Atonement. It is not about doing something to the past, but about living the present as it is, plainly and simply, and doing what must be done in a straightforward and honest way. I believe it is just about living with your head held high. Never forgetting the bliss of the ordinary.

I want to give a standing ovation to the heart of the person who knew this better than anyone and shared with others the events that were so painful to recall. I hope you will forgive me for writing this (presumptuously) to say, "Well done," and I do not mean this as a glorification.

In this modern age where we tend to harbor gloom, if there is anyone who thinks they want to "feel a sense of relief" by acting recklessly, please know that the road is one-way. Before you step into a place from which you cannot return, please stop. For the sake of yourself, who is more important than anything else.

The people I met who "committed a wrong" were, until that very moment, ordinary citizens just like us, just like me. Of course, they were citizens then and are citizens now. While inflicting unhealable wounds on themselves and others. I pray that the chain of negativity will stop. Thank you for accompanying me this far through the clumsy writing of someone who believes (presumptuously) that Suzumura-san's will lies there as well.

I apologize for the personal nature of this review, but there is an article where I mention my background. I will link it here for reference.

To Suzumura-san: Your work, posted in the spring, has reached me just as the deadline for the Creative Awards is approaching💦. Please forgive this out-of-season, off-target, and presumptuous piece of writing.

Total character count: 1158 characters

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<©2024 Mutsuki Harunaga. This text is protected by copyright. AI images are not free materials. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.>
(©2024 HarunagaMutsuki This text is protected by copyright. AI images are not free materials, unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited.)