I am even prepared to fight.

"I hate it."

That is what I said. It was my voice played back from a recorder at the
"Kuni-chan and Mini-Kan Meeting" held at Sainen-ji Temple in Nagoya the day before yesterday.

What Kuni-chan (Mr. Kunihiko Hashimoto) helped me interpret that day was a transcript of me talking about things I hate.

I almost never say that I hate something in front of others. That is because I avoid places where I might feel that way from the start. So, that conversation felt unusual even to me.

A friend who heard this said, "You can talk about what you hate because you are very relaxed."

I see, that is certainly true. The listener at that time was my wife. That is precisely why I could safely say "I hate it."

From there, I suddenly remembered something. It was a phrase a colleague said at the children's center: "I am even prepared to fight."

At the time, my colleague was preparing for a training session to interpret the Convention on the Rights of the Child. All staff members were supposed to attend this training, but despite being a law school graduate, I hated legal articles, so I was worried, "What if I get bored?"

When I told them that honestly, my colleague said, "It's okay. I am even prepared to fight." Meaning, "I have put something so important into this training that it's worth fighting over."

Hearing those words, I felt relieved somehow. And the actual training was a wonderful time that reflected the personality of the organizers, including my colleague.

I, and perhaps all of us, want to get along with people if possible. But sometimes, there are things that must be said even at the risk of jeopardizing that "friendship."

Like saying you hate something, or asserting an opinion different from the other person's.

Even though you could stay in a "good mood" and be "friends" by saying harmless things, you choose not to.

Even if it leads to a fight.

Having someone like that around was a great joy for me. It was also a moment when I felt even closer to my colleague, who was already a friend.

The day before yesterday, during the interpretation, Mr. Kunihiko Hashimoto said that because I spoke so strongly about "hate" and "negation," an equal or even greater "love" and "affirmation" emerged.

Like a pendulum, I needed something I hated so much that I thought it was "the worst" in order to express a fierce "love."

That was certainly true. While I kept saying "I hate this" and "I hate that," in the end, I was talking about what I love.

When I think about it that way, people who listen to your "hates" are truly precious. Because right next to them, something very important to you is lying dormant.