Philosophical Essay & Short Story 🍓 Uncle Hegel and the Strawberry Child.

Hello, I am Ichigomon 🍓.

"Why is it always me?"

Have you ever thought that?

Working hard, only to spin your wheels.

Just when you think you can finally move forward, you hit another wall.

I wish life were like a game, where you could hear a sound when you level up.

In reality, there are days when you just feel exhausted.

If you are feeling tired right now, I would like you to read this, even if you think it might be a trick ✨.

There is someone I remember on days like that.

That person was a philosopher who lived in Germany about 200 years ago.

But to me, he has a much friendlier name.

──Uncle Hegel. 🍓

What this uncle thought about is surprisingly simple.

"People grow by bumping into things."

That is what he had been thinking about for a long time.

One day, I was sitting on the sofa, sighing.

"Why does life never go the way I want it to?"

That was the moment.

An old man with a white beard appeared in my head.

👴 "Now, now, little strawberry child."

……He appeared.

It was Uncle Hegel.

👴 "You are actually moving forward just fine, you know."

🍓 "Huh? I don't feel like that at all."

Then, the old man said with a smile.

👴 "In life, you have your current self and the events that shake that self up. And beyond embracing both of those, a new self is born."

I thought for a moment and then said,

🍓 "Does that mean... I have to fall down at least once?"

👴"Well, you don't have to fall, but people don't grow exactly as planned."

Hearing those words, I looked back on everything that had happened until now.

"That time was the worst."

The events I thought were like that are strangely connected to who I am today.

Because I had that experience, I was able to find this job.

Because I had that worry, I became able to imagine other people's feelings a little better than before.

If everything had gone exactly as I wanted, I probably wouldn't be who I am today.

Uncle Hegel is laughing while drinking his tea.

👴"Life, you see, isn't made of failures and successes. It's a story of surpassing the person you were yesterday."

Uncle Hegel stood up slowly and looked out the window.

The twilight sky is gradually changing into the colors of the night.

👴"My strawberry child. The things that were painful today will also become part of your story someday."

I couldn't believe those words right away.

However, when I look back.

Events that once seemed only to bring tears have now become words that encourage others.

Even if the scars do not disappear.

The meaning of the scars can be changed.

Even if the pain does not disappear.

That pain can sometimes become the strength to gently embrace someone else.

I looked up outside the window.

The boundary between the sunset and the night sky is very vague.

But that vague time is often the most beautiful.

Life is surely the same.

While swaying between suffering and happiness, people gradually become their own unique color.

When I suddenly looked to my side, Uncle Hegel was no longer there.

On the table sits a cup of tea, half-finished.

I stared at the steam rising from it and gave a small smile.

👴 "If you get lost again, just call for me."

I felt as though I heard that voice riding on the breeze.

I stood up quietly and turned the page of today.

Life is not something to be completed.

The self of yesterday and the wall I hit today.

It is about embracing both and continuing to shed one's skin to become a new self.

It is about adding to your own unique story, little by little. 🍓

If you are feeling tired right now,

I hope these words serve as a hint to lighten your heart just a little.

To you, who read this. ✨

I am always watching the person on the other side of the screen.

That said, it's not that I'm trying to read anyone's expression.

I wonder how the person reading these words will take them.

Could my words end up hurting someone?

Could what I wanted to convey be understood in a different way?

When I write an article, those are the first things I think about.

After all, you took the time to come all the way here to read this.

When you finish reading,

I hope you feel just a little bit more energized,

I hope your heart feels just a little bit lighter,

or that you feel like being a little kinder to someone.

I would be happy if you could take even one of those things home with you.

On the other side of the screen,

it's not a number, an icon, or a name.

It is truly a person.

That is why I want to continue writing words while imagining that person.

May your day, as you read this article,

May your day be even just a little bit kinder 🍀


Thank you for reading until the end.