I mean, he was outcast and bullied until he proved his utility. Only then was he accepted. So what's the message to the outcast who don't have fog-beating glow noses, secret decoder rings and so on?
At least he got accepted in the end. There's a Japanese story about an outcast bird. My daughter's kindergarten class performed it yesterday for the parents. Yotaka (his name) is "nakama-hazure", or "included-NO!" (literally) or, loosely translated, "banned from inclusion". Outcast. When another bird's baby dies, Yotaka vounteers to bring the corpse to the heavens to create a new star. All of the other birds then apologise to Yotaka ("nakama hazure gomen ne" -- sorry for excluding you, huh?) and Yotaka goes flying off. Yotaka had no special talent for flying (they all warn him that it's tough, especially given Yotaka's basic lack of flying ability) but all he's got is a willingness to die for a cause.
I wonder if the story came about during the "kamikaze" training days. The main training base was near here. |
