Field report : What Way of Life Really Makes People Shine? —Overcoming the “Negative Legacy” of Landmines —

Naruki Orita, junior in the School of Commerce

A scene from the lecture, held on April 27th (Ms. Jody Williams on the right)

Once, when I traveled around Cambodia, I saw people who had lost their limbs from stepping on landmines. These people would walk around the small, crowded streets of the market (where they sold the kind of fish and vegetables that aren't seen in Japan), and would beg money from tourists. Fortunately, Japan does not have any landmines in its soil, and the only news we hear of such weapons in our daily lives is when unexploded shells that were made for the old Japanese army are dug up on construction sites. So, meeting people who had become victims of landmines in Cambodia was a great shock for me, and the images of them were vividly imprinted onto the film of my memory.

Just when I was thinking about such things, I heard that a special lecture by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jody Williams, entitled “Working towards a Day When the World Will Give up Landmines”, was going to be held at the Ibuka Masaru Memorial Hall, and I decided to go. Ms. Williams said in her lecture that “the most precious thing that I earned during my time as an activist was the friendship of the friends and comrades that worked with me”. From the lively and spirited way she spoke of her experiences as an activist, I could see that she had in her the joy and satisfaction of living a life filled with a sense of purpose. Ms. Williams emphasized that the duty of every human being living in the world today was to question the unfair contradictions of the state of the world we live in, and to not depend on governments to make changes.

Here, I realized something. It was really possible that, through such a “negative legacy” as landmines, a large circle of people could come together and create positive connections, working together in an animated way.

The writer, Mr. Orita

There are so many problems and issues in the world we live in today, and there are no easy answers to these problems. But when people come together to work against these problems, the “wave” that is created goes far beyond the issue itself, and not only swallows the problem itself but creates a wave throughout the world, The existence of such a person as Ms. Jody Williams establishes that beyond any doubt.

This lecture opened my eyes. What was I so depressed about? There is no reason to be negative. It is true that there are many problems in this world that we have to solve. But if each individual takes positive action, and believes firmly in the credo “the world can be made better”, we can change our “negative legacies” into “seeds of hope”.