The day the supermarket I visited for twenty years disappeared. -- "Tao follows nature." Accepting change. --

One morning, I was walking through the town.

The large supermarket in front of the station had been demolished. It was a store I had visited for over twenty years.

At Christmas, I bought chicken legs and champagne there.

On my way home from work, I would choose dress shirts and ties, and on my days off, I would walk through the store looking at jeans and shoes.

It wasn't that anything special had happened.

Even so, looking back, that store was always there at the milestones of my life.

I feel lonelier now that the building itself is gone than I did when I heard it had closed.

I learned for the first time that memories need a place to exist.

On my way home, I also stopped by the sports field near my house.

This place, too, was surrounded by construction fences.

The sports field that had been loved for many years was about to be transformed into a full-scale athletic stadium.

How many times had I walked here?

The morning I walked after seeing the results of my health checkup.

The morning I ran while thinking about work.

I feel like the humid air of summer and the white breath of winter still remain in this place.

That scenery, too, will soon be gone.

While watching the construction from over the fence, I noticed something strange.

A town does not change suddenly.

Every day, the construction progresses a little bit,

and every day, one steel beam after another is assembled.

The scenery is rewritten little by little every day.

I simply hadn't noticed.

People are surely the same.

The self of yesterday and the self of today are almost the same.

However, when I look back ten years, both the town and myself have changed in appearance to a surprising degree.

At that moment, the words of Laozi suddenly came to mind.

"Man follows Earth, Earth follows Heaven, Heaven follows the Dao, and the Dao follows nature."
(Laozi, Chapter 25)

Man follows Earth as a model.

Earth follows Heaven as a model.

Heaven follows the Dao as a model.

And the Dao follows nature as a model.

The "nature" referred to here is not mountains or rivers.

It is being as it is of its own accord.

Just as it is.

It is a great flow that cannot be moved by human convenience alone.

A supermarket becomes an apartment building.

A playground becomes a stadium.

That was a slightly sad event for me.

But as long as the town is alive, changing is also "just as it is."

We are likely the same.

The physical strength of my youth will not return.

The days I spent as a company employee will not return.

The time with my family and the townscape of my childhood will not return.

Of course, what is lost will not return.

Christmas twenty years ago will not return.

The day I chose a necktie at that store will not return.

The version of me from back then, walking on the early morning grounds, will not return.

Even so, the future is not lost.

Ten years from now, new family memories will have piled up in this apartment building.

At the stadium, someone might be setting a new personal best.

This scenery, currently under construction, will someday become a "nostalgic place" for someone.

Come to think of it, life continues in just that way.

Laozi preached the "Dao" (the Way).

That "Way" cannot be seen just by reading books.

This is what I think.

The Dao can only be understood by walking it.

For twenty years, I walked to that supermarket.

Hundreds of times, I walked on those grounds.

That is why I understand the magnitude of what has been lost.

And, precisely because I will continue to walk, I will encounter new things to gain.

To lose something is proof of the path you have walked.

To keep walking is a promise to the future.

Change cannot be stopped.

If so, rather than fearing that flow, I want to walk within it on my own two feet.

Today's takeaway

Because I walked that path, I know what I have lost.

And because I keep walking, I can see what I will gain from here on.

#LifeReignition #60s #Taoism #CityWalking #Redevelopment #NOTE

【Another challenge started in my 60s】
As part of my life reignition, I am also working on writing novels.
I am currently publishing a legendary mystery novel on TALES.
It is a slightly different world from note, but this is also an important creative activity for me.
If you are interested, please take a look.
It has been in the rankings for 5 consecutive weeks!

▼ TALES work page
(Link)