笹井ホテルの『ささいなニュース』 NO.392
昨年の２月のこと。２月６日に北海道ホテルで行われたサービス講習会に出席した直後、私は急に体調を崩しました。翌朝、妻の父親が居間で倒れた状態で発見され、病院へ運ばれたが意識がないという連絡を受けました。その日のうちに妻は東京に帰り、翌日には私も追いかけることになりました。
あれから一年が経ち、本日、妻は帰郷いたしました。私感ですが、一年前というのは、意外にはっきりと憶えていない。２年くらいが過ぎると懐かしい気持ちになります。
今月、私の所属する課より２名の退職者を出しました。どちらも私にとっては突然のことで、正直驚いております。ひとりは職場環境への不満による希望退職でした。と聞いております。同僚として、そのようなサインを本人が発していたことを感じとれなかったという反省があります。
もうひとりは、昨年の新入社員で、解雇処分という厳重なものでした。あらためて処分理由を活字にしてみると、「職務規定違反」ということですが、規定に抵触する程の重大な過失を本人が犯していたという認識を彼の上司である私自身が感じていなかったことへの反省があります。 (※上記の内容に誤りがありました。本人による「自主退職」でした。訂正してお詫び申し上げます。誤った内容の記事を書いたことを含め、今後の業務への取り組みについても、正確さに徹してまいる所存です。)
本人は、昨年高校を卒業したばかりのいたいけな若者で、今回の処置について、今もって理解するに至らないと思います。わずか２ヶ月足らずで彼は社会人としての最初の一年を終了することが出来たのです。多くの若者が自らドロップアウトしていくなか、本人が途中放棄したわけではなかっただけに、心残りで仕方ありません。あらためて指導する側の私たちの責任はなかったかと反省するばかりです。管理する側と管理される側の温度差を認識すると同時に、私自身の立場に置き換えて、身を引き締めた次第です。「立ち止まって考える」・・そんなことを怠って来たようです。
今春すでに６名の新卒者を迎える予定にあります。
Ｑ，ところで次の英文は何の英訳だかおわかりになりますか？ 退職した彼と同期の女性に、「サガンの『悲しみよこんにちは』って知っている？」と聞いてみたところ、いまでは、私が若い頃読んだ本などは、古典的存在になってしまったようですね。下の文章を去りゆく彼に贈りたいと思います。
Going up a mountain track, I fell to thinking.
Approach everything rationally, and you become harsh. Pole along in the stream of emotions, and you will be swept away by the current. Give free rein to your desires, and you become uncomfortably confined. It is not agreeable place to live, this world of ours.
When the unpleasantness increases, you want to draw yourself up to some place where life is easier. It is just at the point when you first realize that life will be no more agreeable no matter what heights you may attain, that a poem may be given birth, or a picture created.
The creation of this world is the work of neither god nor devil, but of the ordinary people around us; those who live opposite, and those next doors, drifting here and there about their daily business. You may think this world created by ordinary people a horrible place in which to live, but where else is there? Even if there is somewhere else to go, it can only be a 'non-human' realm, and who knows but that such a world may not be even more hateful than this?
There is no escape from this world. If, therefore, you find life hard, there is noting to be done but settle yourself as comfortably as you can during the unpleasant times, although you may only succeed in this for short periods, and thus make life's brief span bearable. It is here that the vocation of the artist comes into being, and here that the painter receives his divine commission. Thank heaven for all those who in devious ways by their art, bring tranquility to the world, and enrich men's hearts.
Strip off from the world all those cares and worries which make it an unpleasant place in which to live, and picture before you instead a world of graciousness. You now have music, a painting, or poetry, or sculpture. I would go farther, and say that it is not even necessary to make this vision a reality. Merely conjure up the image before your eyes, and poetry will burst into life and songs pour forth. Before even committing your thoughts to paper, you will feel the crystal thinking, as a of a tiny bell, well up within you; and in all their brilliance, imprint themselves on your mind's eye, though your canvas stands on its easel, as yet take this view of life, and see this decadent, sullied and vulgar world purified and beautiful in the camera of your innermost soul. Even the poet whose thoughts have never found expression in a single verse, or the painter who possesses no colors, and has never painted so much as a single square foot of canvas, can obtain salvation, and be delivered from earthy desires and passions. They can enter at will a world of undefiled purity, and throwing off the yoke of avarice and self interest, are able to build up a peerless and unequalled universe. Thus in all this, they are happier than the rich and famous; than any lord or prince that ever lived; happier indeed than all those on whom this vulgar world lavishes her affections.
After twenty years of life I realized that this is a world worth living in. At twenty five I saw that, just as light and darkness are but opposite sides of the same thing, so wherever the sunlight falls it must of necessity cast a shadow. Today, at thirty my thoughts are these: In the depths of joy dwells sorrow and the greater the happiness the greater the pain. Try to tear joy and sorrow apart, and you lose your hold on life. Try to cast them to one side, and the world crumbles. Money is important, but be that as it may, when it accumulates does it not become a worry which attacks you even in sleep? Love is a delight; yet should the delights of love, pilling one upon another, begin to bear down on you, then you will yearn for those days long ago before you knew them. It is the shoulders of the state, the Cabinet, which are supporting the burden for the millions, its feet; and the onus of government weights heavily upon them. Refrain from eating something particularly tasty, and you will leave the table with your appetite unappeased. Gorge yourself, and later you will feel uncomfortable...
It was just as my meandering thoughts reached this point, that my right foot came down suddenly on the edge of a loose angular rock, and I slipped... ( Translated by Alan Turney)
【答えとなるヒント】：伝わる言葉がある。相手に伝わる言葉は、相手に近い言葉で、、、ただ...簡単に得られては、きっと伝わらない。興味があったら自分で調べてみるといいよ★ (フロント課 渡辺)
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