The kindness overflowing from both hands becomes someone's tomorrow

Such a cruel and tragic war.

Every June, television, radio, and newspapers were filled with stories about the war.

As times have changed, so has the way we receive information,

and now, there are not a few people who only encounter it during this time on Memorial Day.

We have neither seen that suffering nor experienced it ourselves.

We only hear about it.

Since even that feels terrifying to us,

the pain of those who experienced it must be

I believe it must have been something that far exceeded our imagination.

When I was working in nursing care,

the grandmothers would often say,

"I don't want to tell such terrible stories to my dear children. It's too sad, so I don't want to talk about it."

That is why they did not want to talk about the war.

Even if they talked about the postwar period,

they would close their mouths when it came to the war itself.

I think it was a wound that deep.

The people they loved dearly,

and the people they hated.

The people you hold dear, too.

The people who started the war, too.

The people who ended the war, too.

With those who suddenly vanished from before our eyes,

Perhaps the grandfathers and grandmothers are,

"As promised, we have lived for everyone's share!"

and are finally able to reunite with them now.

More than 200,000 lives were lost.

Those who were left behind,

must have held a strong resolve to live on until the day their own lives ended.

I encountered many situations that made me think.

The nursing care setting.

I met many grandfathers and grandmothers who lived through such times.

One grandfather who became bedridden.

He could not move his hands or feet as he wished.

Even so,

the way he looked straight at me,

that sharp, piercing gaze,

I still cannot forget.

He says nothing.

However,

"It's not over yet."

I could feel a weight as if they were saying just that.

Tilling the fields,

protecting their families,

unyielding to any suffering or loud shouting,

the grandmothers who survived by refusing to give up.

Their very figures,

I feel, were the history of living through the postwar period.

And,

I felt a shivering determination to pass on peace even to the children of a future yet unseen.

I felt an unwavering resolve that made me tremble.

Having their land taken away,

with airplanes flying overhead,

spending days watching them descend toward a homeland beyond the fence.

From the place that had become a scorched field,

while swallowing their tears,

they stood up once again.

Inherited from the Ryukyu era,

a connection with the world.

Lacquerware from China.

Pottery from the Korean Peninsula.

Textiles from Southeast Asia.

Dyeing from Japan.

Food culture from America.

Plants from Brazil.

In this way,

while mixing various cultures together,

while protecting the traditions of beauty,

we have created something new.

Okinawan "chanpuru" is

not just about mixing things together.

I believe it is about accepting differences,

and creating something new from them.

Many people,

cultivate the fields,

protect the culture,

sustain our way of life,

and,

those 200,000 people as well,

As if we are still together.

Ichariba choodee.

"Once we meet, we are all brothers and sisters."

Singing Ryukyuan folk songs softly,

Dancing quietly in Ryukyuan dance,

Beating the deeku and paranku for Eisa,

Sharing cups of awamori,

Laughing together while doing kachashi,

Leaving behind proof of having lived,

They paved the way for the future.

That is why Okinawa exists as it is today.

A future version of us, whom we have yet to meet,

"War? That's just a story from the distant past, right?"

A day when we can say that while laughing.

That is,

a future so happy that those who know what happened 81 years ago

would shed tears of joy.

Surely,

the people who lived in that era,

whom we have never met,

Seeing the present like that,

clapping your hands,

raising your hands,

you must be rejoicing.

No matter what the future holds,

it is enough if you are alive.

"Life is a treasure"

As long as you have life,

you can overcome anything.

Because,

Because you have overcome this much.

Everyone can do it too.

If you do the right thing,

everything will work out, they say.

Things that were taken for granted

have changed a lot.

Even so,

the fact that we are living like this now.

The fact that we were able to welcome this day.

To the things we take for granted right in front of us now,

I try putting my hands together and saying, "Thank you."

Strangely enough,

that gratitude

unwinds my heart just a little.

And,

it reminds me that peace is not something created by someone far away,

but something that exists within the daily lives of each and every one of us.

Today is a day of remembrance.

With prayer and gratitude in my heart,

with a prayer.

Yuimaru.