Policies are easily swayed by a single word from someone, aren't they?

If you see a young person
eating bread crusts on a train platform,
they are an art school prep student.

At least
when I was attending art prep school,
there really were people like that.

Or rather, I was one of them myself.

We used charcoal for plaster sketching,
and when we wanted to erase it, we used white bread. Because it erases more gently than an eraser.

And since we only tore off and used the white part of the bread,
the crusts were left in the bag every time.

So, we would eat those leftover crusts on the way home.
Sitting on the station bench, chatting away while
eating that dry, crumbly bread.

Even if someone said, "It would be better with butter," we wouldn't indulge in such luxury.
Our mouths would get so dry that we'd share barley tea and laugh together.

Somehow, things like that
were a little joy for us.

"That plaster cast was totally looking at me today,"
someone would say,
and I'd reply, "No, it was actually sleeping."

……Well, looking back on it calmly now,
that was a truly pointless conversation.

In that way, bread crusts were like
a little bit of culture to us.

But one day, when I was talking to a senior at the prep school,
she saw a student eating bread crusts on the platform and said this.

"You know, I don't like that kind of thing; it's so unrefined."

……Huh, seriously?
I was eating them just yesterday.

But I said, "Y-yeah, you're right!" with a smile.
My reflexes in that regard are quite impressive, if I do say so myself.

And from that day on, I stopped eating bread crusts.
That senior was really good at drawing, and I respected her a bit.

Maybe that's why I so easily bent my policy.

Even though I used to eat bread crusts so heartily.
To change my approach so easily just because of one word from a senior.
How thin, how incredibly thin my policy is.

Then, a while later, by some chance,
I told a close friend from prep school about it.

I said that apparently eating bread crusts is unrefined.
Then that friend scoffed and said this:

"That person is just putting on airs."

…Huh?

No, you were the one who said that senior was cool, weren't you?
But are you really going to dismiss them just like that, calling them 'stuck-up'?
Are you choosing to eat bread crusts over respecting that person?

…Huh?
…Isn't that better for me, too?
(I can eat bread crusts, after all)

I guess… that person really is… stuck-up… right?

And so, I started eating bread crusts again.

Honestly, I was happy to return to that 'group that talks aimlessly while eating bread crusts'.
Thinking that I could go home while saying 'bread crusts are delicious' and talking about nonsense again, I felt relieved.

After all,the time spent talking with friends who shared the same aspirations when we were young
is actually quite precious when you look back on it later,
isn't it?

And now that I'm an adult, I think this:

The time we spent eating bread crusts and talking about trivial things
was trulyfun.And also,

gnawing on bread crusts on the train station platform is, after all,not very classy,is it?

▼These are my random thoughts from my days at art school. Please take a look if you'd like.▼

#PoliciesAreThingsThatSway
#RealityOfArtPrepSchool
#WhatILearnedFromBreadCrusts
#ToTheMeOfThoseDays
#Essay