A useless man
Four months ago (Thursday, Jan 20th, 2005), I was talking to my ex-professor, N. Yamazoe, about my future plan; where I want to go after graduation? What I want to do?...
After a short talk, I asked him about his current situation (He was retired in March 2004). How is it going these days?
Nothing, he answered. And continued: I’m working for a university one day a week and am studying and taking a rest the rest of the week. I’m a useless man.
“You have been so helpful to the people so far. Don’t say that”, I replied. Then I was thinking to his words and was trying to understand his feelings. Why a man who devoted his whole life to the science and people should say that. A man with about 700 hundred international journal papers, 60 patents, 10 books and …
The main reason, in my opinion, is his viewpoint to the life. As any other Japanese, he has learned to work hard and hard. To the Japanese, in fact, working makes the foundation of life. They feel better when at work or on duty. Therefore, retirement could be supposed to the end of everything as it brings a gap to their lives. However, I think there is a dual feeling. The other side of the coin is that they want to be free after years of hard work. Having another talk with my professor, he said that there has been some requests by publishers to provide new editions of his books or those which he published as editor. “Do you really want to do this job?” I asked. “NO. I’d like to be free” he replied.
He is still doing his job as a great scientist and I’m sure that he’ll continue this way...
After a short talk, I asked him about his current situation (He was retired in March 2004). How is it going these days?
Nothing, he answered. And continued: I’m working for a university one day a week and am studying and taking a rest the rest of the week. I’m a useless man.
“You have been so helpful to the people so far. Don’t say that”, I replied. Then I was thinking to his words and was trying to understand his feelings. Why a man who devoted his whole life to the science and people should say that. A man with about 700 hundred international journal papers, 60 patents, 10 books and …
The main reason, in my opinion, is his viewpoint to the life. As any other Japanese, he has learned to work hard and hard. To the Japanese, in fact, working makes the foundation of life. They feel better when at work or on duty. Therefore, retirement could be supposed to the end of everything as it brings a gap to their lives. However, I think there is a dual feeling. The other side of the coin is that they want to be free after years of hard work. Having another talk with my professor, he said that there has been some requests by publishers to provide new editions of his books or those which he published as editor. “Do you really want to do this job?” I asked. “NO. I’d like to be free” he replied.
He is still doing his job as a great scientist and I’m sure that he’ll continue this way...
posted by Cyrus at
2:42 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home