[Reflections/Article Introduction] Looking Back at 2024

Hello! This is Elzas.

As this is the final post of the year, I would like to jot down some thoughts on the changes I have felt in myself recently as a way of looking back on this past year.

The change in myself that I have been feeling lately is that I have become able to listen more seriously to the opinions of people with different perspectives than I used to.

For example, take the time I read Kohei Saito's "Capital in the Anthropocene."

As I introduced in a previous article, Kohei Saito is a researcher of contemporary Marxism who argues that "capitalism, which continues to aim for economic growth, cannot solve the problem of climate change."
And through that verification, he advocates for a transition to "degrowth communism."

Honestly, a little while ago, I think I would have dismissed it, thinking, "Marxism? Isn't that outdated?" and would have ignored even the premise of his argument that "as long as we continue to aim for economic growth, the climate change problem cannot be solved." However, for the current me, this argument has come to hold significant meaning, to the point where I constantly pose this proposition to myself and keep thinking about it.

I was also greatly influenced by a book I was reading in parallel called "Introduction to Ethics."

This book introduces a new perspective called "future ethics," which explains the importance of the responsibility of contemporary humanity toward future generations who have not yet been born.
This prompted me to start thinking about the future in the form of writing my own science fiction.

And recently, I finally understood what was at the root of these changes in myself.

It is raising children.

I think my empathy skills have increased through raising children.I realized this when I read this article here ↓

This article states that "empathy grows by desperately trying to understand what a child is thinking," and I truly felt that this is exactly the case.

Days spent trying my best to understand the feelings my child cannot yet fully express in words, whether they are crying or laughing.
Through this, empathy has grown within me, and I feel it has now become a strength that allows me to pause, accept, and try to understand ideas and values different from my own.

Growing as a person through the experience of raising a child—
to have moments where I can feel that is truly wonderful.
I hope to continue valuing empathy and learning so much from parenting, so that I can think about things from an even broader perspective.

Lastly, to everyone who has read my notes, everyone who has clicked 'like,' everyone who has left comments, and everyone who has posted so many wonderful articles,

thank you so much for a wonderful year! ☺️

Thanks to starting my note this year, my life has become far more fulfilling than it once was. I would like to express my deepest gratitude. 🙇

I wish you all a very happy New Year.

See you again!