第十四章

11 March 2011 11:30

Talking about lunch earlier with Haruka had made me hungry especially now that I knew that gobō chicken was on the menu. Despite the big breakfast that I had eaten this morning, my stomach had started to gurgle and I hoped it would not get any louder or people would be able to hear it.

Before lunch, we had moral education which was always interesting as it got the whole class thinking and talking about what was good and bad behaviour although we were beginning to understanding that for some dilemmas it was not that straightforward.

Kinoshita-sensei returned from the staffroom with a DVD in his hand. Having wheeled out the television and player from the corner of the classroom and plugged it in, he pushed the disc into the slot at the front of the machine. A rather old-fashioned film appeared on the screen and I watched a story about a little boy called Tatsuya who was walking along the street in the middle of summer when he came across a wallet lying on the pavement. He picked up the wallet and looked inside to see if he could find a name and address of the owner but when he did so noticed that there was fifty thousand yen tucked into the notes section at the back.

It was at this point that Kinoshita-sensei paused the film.

‘So, class, what do you think Tatsuya should do next?’ he asked.

A hand shot up from the third row of desks, it was Rikimaru.

‘I think that he should take the wallet back to the owner straight away,’ he said.

‘OK, thank you Rikimaru-kun,’ Kinoshita-sensei said. ‘What do the rest of you think? Who agrees?’

There was a murmur of conversation and slowly a number of hands rose into the air until about a third of the class indicated that they agreed. I was not sure so kept my hand down by my side.

‘Thank you everyone. You can put them down now,’ he said with a wave of his arm.  ‘So, of those who did not raise your hands just now, do you disagree with Rikimaru-kun or are you still thinking?’

One of the video game boys, Kenta, raised his hand to talk and was acknowledged by Kinoshita-sensei.

‘I think that trying to return the wallet is the right thing to do,’ Kenta began. ‘But what if the person who dropped the wallet was dangerous? You shouldn’t go to their house on your own in case the person kidnapped you.’

I was pretty impressed with this point and had not considered that dangerous people could drop their wallets in just the same way as kind people could. There was further background noise that indicated broad agreement.

‘Very good, Kenta-kun. Thank you. You should be very careful going to the house of somebody whom you don’t know, especially if a long way from your neighbourhood. If you ever get invited into a stranger’s home, even if they are promising you something nice like a cold drink or a chance to play with their pets you should politely refuse and then tell your parents or a teacher about it,’ Kinoshita-sensei added. ‘What else do you think you could do with the wallet if taking it to the person’s home is not a good idea?’

I thought for a little while and was about to try an answer when Haruka beat me to it.

‘You could take the wallet to the nearest kōban police box,’ she said. ‘The policeman would then be able to find the owner and telephone them to arrange its return.’

‘Does this sound right?’ Kinoshita-sensei asked us, again testing the class to make sure that we were all involved in the lesson.

There were further sounds of agreement which Kinoshita-sensei detected without having to ask again for a show of hands.‘Yes, that’s right Haruka-chan,’ he said as he walked back over to the DVD player. ‘If you ever find anything that isn’t yours then you should either take it to a policeman in the nearest kōban or take it home to your parents. Now let’s watch some more.’

The film re-started but with another scene that was entitled “Earlier that day” and we were watching Tatsuya back at home with his family. Over breakfast, his mother and father were having a conversation about Tatsuya’s grandmother who lived with them and was still asleep in the small tatami room at the back of the house. Through this part of the film we learnt that Tatsuya’s obāchan was not well and needed an operation on her eyes which she could no longer see with because she had something called a cataract on each one. Tatsuya’s parents wanted to help but did not have enough money to pay the forty thousand yen contribution towards the operation as Tatsuya’s father had recently lost his job and was struggling to find work. The family had used nearly all of their savings and had only enough money left to pay for essentials like food and electricity.

Tatsuya said ittekimasu as he left the house and we were back to the same scene of him finding the wallet on the floor. As he picked it up, Tatsuya’s grandmother with her poorly eyes appeared in a big thought bubble above his head. It was here that Kinoshita-sensei paused the film again.

This is exactly why I love these lessons. Just when I thought we had come to an answer that everyone agreed with, suddenly there is a whole new meaning to the story.

‘It really would be great for Tatsuya’s obāchan to have that eye operation, wouldn’t it?’ Kinoshita-sensei asked to provoke some further discussion.

‘I still think that he should take the wallet to the policeman,’ Haruka said, not wanting to concede her earlier position.

‘I agree,’ said a voice. Everyone turned around. It was Hiroshi who had spoken which came as a surprise to many as he often kept very quiet during lessons. ‘Even though his grandmother is sick, it’s not his money and he would still have to tell his parents where he got it from. Although they really could use the money I don’t think that they would spend it without knowing where it came from.’

‘That’s right,’ said Haruka. ‘Even though his grandmother needs an operation it doesn’t have to be straight away and I’m sure that Tatsuya’s father will get a job soon and then they will be able to pay for it themselves.’

Kinoshita-sensei had sat down at the teacher’s desk and had a look on his face that showed us he was enjoying the conversation that the film had prompted.

‘Even so, it really looked like he loved his grandmother, and that thing over her eyes looked horrible. Poor obāchan,’ Kumi the manga artist chipped in. ‘It’s easy for us to sit here and say that we would give the money to the policeman but what if it were your own grandmother?’

‘I know, Kumi-chan, and it would be more difficult if it were my grandmother but taking something that isn’t yours is stealing no matter what it is for,’ Haruka replied to this challenge.

‘But poor obāchan!’ Kumi pleaded.

‘No, I’ve made up my mind,’ Haruka said with some resolve. ‘He should take the wallet to the kōban.’

Whilst this conversation was going on, I had been thinking about what I would do if in Tatsuya’s shoes. I was not sure. Of course, I knew that stealing was wrong and even more than that I knew that Okāsan would never let me offer her money without knowing exactly where it came from. I decided to make a suggestion anyway.

‘What if Tatsuya just borrowed the money until his father got a new job and could pay it back?’ I said. ‘The family could keep hold of the wallet until then, replace the money they borrowed and then hand it into the police after a month or so.’

‘That still isn’t right,’ Haruka said as she looked at me with slightly disbelieving eyes. ‘Besides, his parents would need to agree to that and I don’t think that they would.’

 ‘Let’s have a look and see what Tatsuya does,’ Kinoshita-sensei said, standing up from his chair, walking over to the DVD player and pressing the play button once more.

The film continued and we were all expecting Tatsuya to pick up the wallet and take it to the kōban, as we all now knew that this was the right thing to do no matter how difficult circumstances were for him at home. However, the film cut to another scene of a man breaking into a house, stealing some money that was in an envelope sitting in the genkan by the front door. There were a few gasps as we watched the close up of five ten-thousand-yen notes being slipped into the wallet that Tatsuya would later find on the pavement.

‘What do you think now?’ Kinoshita-sensei asked.

‘I still think that Tatsuya should take the wallet to the police,’ Haruka came straight back with. ‘Although I did feel sorry for the man who dropped the wallet, now I know that it was not his money in the first place I am angry with him and feel sorry for the family whose money he stole.’

‘How about anyone else?’ Kinoshita-sensei asked.

‘I think that we shouldn’t worry too much about where the money came from,’ said Hiroshi. ‘What matters is Tatsuya doing the right thing and that still means taking the wallet to the police.’

Kinoshita-sensei turned around to look at the clock that was hung above the blackboard.

‘I’m afraid class we have run out of time for today. However, I have been very impressed with the discussion and I think that the last point made by Hiroshi-kun is a very important one when thinking about moral dilemmas. In many cases, decisions that you have to make in life won’t always be clear cut and you will need to apply your judgement to these decisions. When you do, be guided by your own morals and try your best to do the right thing. Shall we see how it ended for Tatsuya?’

The film started again and we saw Tatsuya pick up the wallet and hand it to a local policeman. The policemen then took the wallet back to the kōban to begin to track down its owner. He frowned as he took out the driving licence and looked at the picture of the man as if he recognised him from somewhere. Sitting on the fax machine behind him was a freeze-frame of some footage from a CCTV camera and the words “Wanted” written below in bold. It was the same man whose wallet had just been handed in. The final scene of the film was Tatsuya at home with his grandmother who, from the healthy look of her eyes, had been into hospital for the operation and as the camera panned out we saw a newspaper cutting stuck to the wall in the kitchen with a picture of Tatsuya right in the middle.

Local Boy A Hero

Young Tatsuya-kun helps police to track down local criminal and receives a forty thousand yen reward from one of the victims whose paintings were returned to him following a search of the burglar’s home…

***

…just a touch more then I’m off…

…can’t wait…

…this is going to be fun…