Notes on resilience and OLD ENOUGH (1990 - present)
It might not make sense but damn, these kids make me want to face life undefeatedly!
One of my New Year’s resolutions is that I promise myself to be more strict and discipline with other resolutions — watch more films, read more books, write more often, smoke less, eat better, et cetera — in order to be someone that I wanted to look up to. So far, it is not working out as I thought it would be. Consternation became the biggest concern, along with the usual fear and distraction. I keep on doing other things that aren’t significant to my betterment as a way to feel better about avoiding said promise.
Many excuses come to mind, most of them are admittedly, laziness and tiredness. The worst combo of all time when it comes to the aspiration of achieving anything. I don’t condone any of these, especially when you’re young. It’s just the fact that work and commute have taken the best part of my day, like truly 12 hours minimum are wasted usually on those two. The commute itself is pretty short if you take the train and mototaxi, but how can you get anything done from that?
The constant thing out of all of these is that I get to run errands everyday by myself, which is a taste of freedom that I seldom get, and a bitterness of having to do something when I’m already exhausted. There’s a part of me that sometimes question why I abide to doing errands anyway; the answer ranges from the need to please people, the usual search of validation, all the way to fear of losing trust and commitment. The latter is much bleaker, I know.
About a week ago, something caught my attention on Twitter in which somebody tweeted a Japanese show on Netflix where the premise is literally, children running errands for their parents. I thought to myself, well that’s cute! So I bookmarked the tweet and went on with my life, forgetting to actually check the show out. It wasn’t until two days ago that I finally opened my Netflix app (hate when more than two notifications pop up on that damn little icon) and the banner of the show was right in front of my eyes, OLD ENOUGH. I gave in and watched one episode and to my surprise, it’s only 15 minutes or less! Imagine how elated I am and my people (who get distracted all the time).
Unsurprisingly, I burned through nine episodes of it already. I’m stunned by their tenacity and dedication, along with the trust and resilience that their parents have taught them. I’m also anxious with the struggles that they face, from the distance of their trips to the obstacles that come abound. Not to mention that Japan always looks pretty on screen even in its mundaneness, and the fact that the show is focused more on the rural and suburban lives so the environment would be safe for kids to run amok.
In episode 8, there’s a (seemingly) four year old boy named Sota who lives in the mount Hakodate in Hokkaido. Blessed with a baby sister that he loves so much, he would then dedicate his life to make his sister happy. There lies the first errand, he has to buy apples for the weaning sister. The second one appears with his father, bestowing him fishes fresh off the sea for him to bring to the fishmonger in order to transform them into sashimi. There he goes downhill, with fishes in the icebox. Suddenly, the first obstacle comes so swiftly — the cord of the icebox split apart and the raw fishes dropped to the ground!
He then proceeded to try and pick the fishes back up with sticks and bare hands. About the cord, he then asks a gardener to help him tie back his cord. After all the trauma that he has to endure (at one point he has to witness the raw fishes that he touched to be gutted open with a knife by the fishmonger), he’s done with all the errands! Heavy with multiple plastic bags of said sashimi, apples, and a couple of sodas for his mother, with powerful thrusts, he walks uphill back to his home. Prone to fatigue, sometimes he would stop, drop the belongings, take a break, and keep on walking. Then, obstacle comes again without fail and irritates our Sota, the apples fell from the plastic bags and rolled down the hill! Nooooooooo! This happened MULTIPLE TIMES! Every time, he would say “Noooo not again!” I feel for him so bad.
In spite of that the ending is beautiful. He’s managed to get home, give her mom a dandelion and a can of soda that he bought earlier. His face is painted sour but I can see and feel that he is indeed, proud of what he’s done. I know I’m damn proud of him, a stranger, and other strangers on Twitter.
All of a sudden, I feel all of the New Year’s resolutions that I made earlier this year came back to me in a swift motion in the form of faint vignettes; me reading in a park, me watching two movies on a sunny day in my room, me writing on the train, me choosing ketoprak over ayam geprek, me ready to pay for my stuff at the minimarket and not even glance at the cigarettes behind the cashier. It’s like that scene in DOCTOR STRANGE (sorry for referencing M*rv*l movies). That’s how the vignettes work in my head. Then shame swaddles me, for I have been defeated by Sota, the four year-old kid who defies literal, nervous breakdown-inducing deterrents in doing his errands.
I believe the reason on why I can’t seem to both put this show down and take my sweet time with watching it is because I pursue this show like how a gemologist would find a newfound gem (I would imagine). You want to study it for a period of time. Enjoying and savoring every minute of it carefully is a way to identify new perspectives and absorb new colors of the precious stone.
Excitingly, this show transforms me back into a student. An eager learner who gets reminded by the very root of why we have to be reminded of simple things: resilience. Resilience in terms of wanting to honor their parents’ wishes and make them proud of their development. More importantly, the show displays the need for kids to be proud and reminded of overcoming something that sometimes many people can give up easily. Their resilience is the absolute form of independence that reveres and cherishes their predecessors.
Realizing that sometimes you need to get back to your own chosen path and having to face it with inner mortification can feel a little weird. But ever since that, I pick up a book and start reading again. I play a film and manage to watch it with enjoyment. I type a little newsletter like this with the same determination that I had months ago. Proudness slowly uncovers me again, and I feel like smiling again. And maybe, the hypotheses that I encapsulated above about doing errands, can slowly disappear and signal for a triumphant version of myself; a person who loves life and is willing to fight for the life they want.
i adore this and i adore you!!!! three cheers for resilience!!!!
i adore this and i adore you!!!! three cheers for resilience!!!!