Delusional Diary June 25th 'Seikanron'
8:48 Arrived at work.
Immediately after starting work, Yumi-san, looking like she was dying to talk to someone, told me about what happened at her house last night. It seems her husband, who is usually very affectionate, came to her with a serious consultation.
'He had this gloomy look on his face and said, "Yumi... I think I'm depressed. I'm definitely suffering from clinical depression." No, not at all, not at all! Looking at him, he was absolutely not like that!'
'So I told him, "Look, you're not depressed, you have a personality disorder."
'Because people with depression suffer from "self-blaming" thoughts. Basically, you blame others, so you're fine!"'
Everyone, who should have been immersed in their work, joined in, cheering and laughing, saying, "Yumi-chan, that's amazing!", "You're fine because you blame others?!", "In a way, that's love!"
Just then, General Manager Okubo from the General Affairs Department, who had come to our department on business, overheard our conversation.
'"Self-blaming" and "blaming others," internal trouble and external threats—these are truly difficult issues, aren't they?'
He said, showing an extraordinary amount of interest. That General Manager Toshimichi, who has a reputation in the department for being difficult. Actually, he has a bald spot on the top of his head that everyone loves to gossip about, and while he was desperately trying to hold it down with one hand using his own side hair that he had forced over, he continued,
'Saigo and his lot were saying, "We must open Korea by force! It's the Seikanron!" They claimed that Japan's failure to modernize was the fault of foreign countries. This is what you all call "blaming others," isn't it?'
'But at that time, I thought that Japan's failure to modernize was because our domestic infrastructure wasn't in order; I thought that after visiting the West. Well, I suppose that would be "self-blaming."
The Seikanron group, including Saigo, ended up in that situation by blaming the structure of the country... but the balance between "blaming others" and "self-blaming" is what really matters. If you lean too far in either direction, you'll break. Just as there is a historical context for the shift from Asianism to Imperialism, the state of things at any given time is what is most essential.'
General Manager Okubo walked away, leaving behind a very mature opinion and a lingering impression.
A few hours later, during our tea break,
'Hey! I specifically asked for the Blendy Rooibos Tea Au Lait that I keep on my shelf! Hey! You serve me this coffee packed with caffeine, and isn't that why my hair is falling out?! Look at this, isn't this your fault?!'
A loud, scolding voice, which I remembered hearing earlier, reached us.
Everyone wore a look that said, "The balance between 'self-blaming' and 'blaming others' is really difficult," and we all pretended not to hear.
#CreativeWriting #ShortStory #ShortShort #Diary #3LineDiary #OkuboToshimichi #Seikanron #SaigoTakamori #SelfBlameBlamingOthers #WhatAreYouTalkingAbout