Is this the Showa era?! - Well done for making it this far -

"Is this the Showa era?!"

As someone born in the Showa era, I have mixed feelings about this. It is not disappointment or anger, but rather the shallowness of grouping things by era, and the age-based discriminatory (though 'discriminatory' might be too strong a word) thinking that everyone should hate most... that bothers me. To begin with, the Showa era lasted for 64 years. The environment and values of those born in the early Showa era and 'those' of people born at the very end of Showa, who might as well be from the Heisei era... it is not simple enough to be lumped together by the word 'Showa.' What bothers me even more is the sight of people laughing off 'Showa' while knowing the breadth of the era... I cannot understand it. (*I do not intend to criticize those who can understand it.)

Even in this day and age where the word 'harassment' is used as a matter of course, people seem to casually swing their swords (so to speak) at generations different from their own—whether it be 'young people these days' or 'old geezers'—regardless of whether they are young, elderly, or (of course) middle-aged. It makes me feel a little sad.

It is free (a matter of personal choice) for anyone to think whatever they want about anyone else.
However,
there is [no] freedom for anyone to say whatever they want about anyone else.

This applies to me as well, but I find myself trying to dismiss people who grew up in different environments using the plausible-sounding term [generational gap]. The wrapping paper of that term [generational gap] ends up concealing the true feelings of contempt I have for other generations (making them less noticeable).

However, the difficult part is that if you do not use this wrapping paper to some extent, it becomes hard to live in a society where people mingle. If everything were transparent, society would be in total chaos. The aesthetics of communication would vanish without a trace, and fights would break out everywhere. It seems like it would become a situation that shakes the nation, where fighting becomes a survival skill.

There is another complicated aspect. That is the reverse effect of the wrapping paper. As mentioned above, the wrapping paper serves to hide one's true feelings, but sometimes the wrapping paper itself becomes the true feeling. A strange delusion arises where one believes that they themselves are as beautiful as the 'wrapping paper.' If the true feeling is black and the wrapping paper is white, then the true feeling also becomes white (or has become so).

If everyone became wrapping paper, what would happen to society? I don't know why, but I cannot imagine it well. Is it a case of 'clear water has no fish'... or a pure society that does not realize its own false purity? I don't even know what I'm saying anymore (I regret my own shallowness...).

・・・

"Don't say 'Showa (lol), Showa (lol)'!"

Well now, does this come from true feelings, or is it the cry of the wrapping paper common to people of the Showa era? Which one is the real thing? Is it a cry of the soul or a formal cry? Is it the self-deprecating laughter of Showa people who have given up?

String telephone~~
-> Rotary phone
-> Cordless phone
-> PHS
-> Mobile phone
-> Smartphone
-> ??

Chatting
-> Exchange diaries
-> Pen pals
-> Jama-ru (do you know it?)
-> Pager (public phone beep-beep?)
-> Email friends
-> mixi
-> Successive SNS
-> Dating sites
-> ?

I don't know exactly, but no matter what anyone says to me or how they say it, I want to acknowledge myself for having survived this era of drastic change and for still placing myself in the midst of even more change.

"Well done for making it this far!"

Even if society or anyone else doesn't acknowledge it, I think it's fine to hold onto it as a sense of pride? or confidence? wrapped in that wrapping paper... Even if I am told this or that because of my gender or the generation I was born in, it won't reach my inner self.

I have bluntly dismissed my own father and mother as 'outdated.' This is karma. Even if I am now mocked with 'Is this the Showa era?!', I should probably accept it firmly.

Well now, is accepting it firmly
the same as wrapping it in [wrapping paper]?

The days of struggling with such contradictions continue.

My own black vs. white

I take my coffee black.

Is your way of life black, too?
Are you a 'black' person?

Maybe I should add
some milk and sugar for a change.

It might be gentler on my stomach and my brain.
(Though I wouldn't know for sure)

Phew. Delicious♪