Regain the Power to Fly Freely!: Tips for Escaping for Those Whose Wings Were Clipped in a Birdcage

I believe that compulsory education in Japan is not designed to grant freedom. After all, Japanese people do not know what freedom is. I wonder if it was actually education for the purpose of management.

I am thinking today about how I wish Japanese people could take flight more freely under their own power.

The True Nature of Compulsory Education is 'Management'

What the country wanted were workers who would act according to instructions. That is why classrooms were lined up like factories, and under a fixed curriculum, we were made to practice answering 'questions with correct answers' over and over again.

At least, that is my own personal interpretation.

Rather than blaming others, I would like to overcome things without complaining about the environment, but that is a difficult task during school years when one's sense of self is still immature. From that time on, there was the home, the school, and then the corporate organization that I tried to force myself to fit into, thinking that was just how things were.

I feel as though we are being taught to give up on having a sense of discomfort and that ideologies against rebellion are being planted in us. To put it extremely, it is like a military training school for going to war.

Curiosity is suppressed, different ideas are dismissed as 'lacking cooperativeness,' and children who are naturally good at flying have their wings clipped and are ordered to 'run,' which they are not good at. The birdcage called education quietly, but surely, stole the children's freedom.

The 'Breeding-Style' Upbringing That Continues at Home

The home, which should be where children grow, also provides a birdcage of social standing and stability. The size of the birdcage is set to match the parent with the more restrictive values. If the mother has a small birdcage and the father has a very large one, the child will always be raised in the smaller birdcage.

'Go to a good school and join a good company.'
'Dreams? You can't make a living on those, can you?'

In this way, every time a child tries to flap their wings, parents pour water on them to make their wings heavy. It is control disguised as concern. While acting like a good parent by saying 'I'm doing this for your own good,' they are only concerned with their own social standing. It is a lack of freedom wearing the skin of affection. It is just like breeding.

While saying they want their children to live freely, in reality, they use implicit pressure to seal their movements so they never leave the small birdcage, telling them 'don't go off the rails' and 'don't do things differently from others.'

Corporate Organizations Are Truly Birdcage Breeding

Without knowing it, you are raised in the small birdcage of compulsory education, and then you arrive at the 'birdcage called a corporate organization' known as a company.

A company with a huge birdcage is called a white company. A company with a small birdcage, and one made of barbed wire at that, is called a black company.

You arrive at work early in the morning, are tied to your desk until evening, and only do what you are told. You watch your boss's face and get by safely with your colleagues. There is no need for individuality or free thinking there. No, in fact, those things are treated as nuisances.

While everyone is made to run in the same direction at the same pace, those who can fly are considered incompatible and are crushed. Humans, who were originally born to soar through the sky, are forced endlessly to 'run,' which they are not even good at, inside the birdcage of a company.

You endure life in a birdcage just to be fed corn or sunflower seeds.

The tragedy of not realizing you are in a birdcage

The biggest problem is that we don't even realize we are in that birdcage ourselves.

We have become too accustomed to being managed, have grown insensitive even to the pain of having our wings clipped, and have convinced ourselves that 'this is normal.' Or perhaps, more people are aware of it but choose to look the other way.

'It's stable, and I have no complaints,'
'It's too late to change things now.'

Behind such words, you can see the feeling of having given up on one's own potential. A bird that can fly but chooses not to—or rather, a bird that has forgotten it can fly. That is the state of many adults today.

How to realize you are in a birdcage

So, how can you realize that you are in a birdcage?
I think it starts with reviewing your own words and actions.

The 'words' in words and actions refer to speaking, outputting, and being seen by others.
The 'actions' in words and actions refer to moving, experiencing, and being seen by others.

・Do you lack your own opinions and find comfort in always being the same as everyone else?
・Are you overly afraid of risks and challenges, clinging to a cage called 'stability'?
・Are you just saying 'I want to change, but...' without actually doing anything?

If these signs are present, your wings may already be wet and heavy. Or perhaps they have been clipped and are gone entirely.

But you know, feathers grow back. And wings can grow larger, too. Even after you've become an adult.

The choice to step outside the birdcage

The door to the birdcage is not locked. Whether you open it or not depends on your own will. In fact, the birdcage itself might not even exist.

・Try taking on a small challenge (a side job, changing careers, volunteering, etc.)
・Think seriously about 'what you really want to do'
・Question existing common sense and values

In my case, I realized the existence of the birdcage just by talking to people. And by 'people,' I don't mean just those within your company or those who share your values. Conversations with completely different types of people are the best chance to break through your established patterns of thinking.

You have a chance to notice the birdcage through conversations with people from completely different backgrounds. I also recommend joining new communities or talking with foreigners.

That said, many people likely feel scared to talk to strangers. For those people, I recommend reading books first. When you acquire many ideas and information from books, it becomes easier to feel motivated to say, "Let's give it a try!"

Recommended book↓
The Fear of Quitting Your Job and the Happiness After Overcoming It

Flying is scary. That is because the strength of the wind and the vastness of the sky are things you could never have imagined inside a birdcage. But for anyone who has flown even once, you can never go back to a life of running on the ground. After all, flying is freedom.

Summary

Today, I wrote this by comparing Japanese people to birds and society to a birdcage. I wrote this while listening to Ayumi Nakamura's "Angel with Broken Wings" as background music.

Japanese education, families, and companies have all stolen our wings and taken away our power to fly. Without realizing it, we have been forced to run and made to forget that we can fly.

But we only forgot; we can actually fly. You can dry your wings once more and take flight. Instead of clipped wings, you can also grow new ones. New wings have sprouted on my back since I started my second life.

Are you in a birdcage right now?
Or have you already started to fly?

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