Hello to those I have not met before and to those I have been with before.
I am Luna. Right now I am a child living with brain-injury.
Every time, I start with these words: I would like to speak not as an
instructor, but as an ordinary child, so please listen to what I say as you
would listen to the chatter of the child next door.
Some of you may already know, but I am undergoing a rehabilitation program
called the Doman Method. So I receive the influence of the people from their
center. I love Dr. Doman and his people, and because of them, there is fulfillment
in my life. However, there are times when even they, whom I respect, become
the object of criticism. This refers to only a few of the people who have
visited my house or the rehabilitation specialists, but it seems that some
do not think well of them. Why is this so? Because it costs a lot, because
the child's whole day is occupied by rehabilitation, etcetera, etcetera.
I often cry during rehabilitation. Especially when a new program begins,
almost every time, I cry at the start. If someone said, "Look how that child
is crying. See, it's not good." Let me ask you then: Is this a misfortune
for me?
Dr. Doman and his associates often say: "Even if we tell you to do this
program for one hour, if you think it's best to do it for 59 minutes, please
do so. Another thing: "If you can find a better method than ours, please
use it. Then teach us. In essence, what matters is that your child gets better."
Here let me ask you again: Am I being brainwashed by them?
I like the word "favorite". I think people take action when their heart
feels good. Most of the time, it doesn't work. When you do something out
of duty, or because you have to do it. At the very least, I undergo rehabilitation
to feel better.
My state is such that I cannot utter words or move my body freely, and
someone from the outside would not recognize the difference compared to my
state when I started this rehabilitation. But I know the changes my body
has undergone. They are changes that are invisible to others. Now my body
is not bent. Before, my left hand had no feeling, but now it most definitely
does. I do not take a single one of the drugs I used to take for epilepsy.
I used to be hospitalized even for a cold, but now I get better even without
medicine. Is my condition getting worse?
I am not here to defend them. They themselves say that there is no need
to defend them. Rather than such defence, parents are told to concentrate
on making their brain-injured children better.
Why did my parents decide to use the Doman Method? They had no previous
knowledge about Dr. Doman and his group. Dr. Doman and his group did not
persuade them to enter the program. When they heard about the method, my
parents decided on their own to try it.
When people obtain new knowledge, and feel that it is right, they resonate
with that idea. Even though in the beginning it is someone else's idea, the
moment you resonate with it, it becomes yours. In that sense, in the case
of awareness also, when it becomes yours, even if in the beginning it was
someone else's, I feel you can convey it as your own words. However, even
if people resonate, they are still separate individuals. So I think it is
all right not to resonate completely with others. Absorbing the good parts.
People can do that.
If you respect someone, and feel exactly the same, and like the same
people, and do the same things, you would be nothing more than a puppet.
Everyone has a different experience of life, and the things they have learned
are also different. Learning is necessary in order to look at something from
different angles, but even then, people feel and think according to the wisdom
they have gained in their lives.
I have always thought that people rely not on the gods of others, but
on their own gods. The term "god" may be misleading though. I have always
thought it strange that people want others to judge them. Of course, I am
happy when people praise me, and enjoy it when people show interest in me.
However, no one has ever compared my life with someone else's. It is enough
if I can be better than what I am now, without comparing myself with others.
What is beautiful is beautiful, what is splendid is splendid, what I like
is what I like. I have come to this point just by that. I've lived my life
for no more than about eight years though. No matter what others say, I cannot
throw away the feeling that I am happy. This is because no matter how humbly
I listen to what others say, it is not for others to decide how I feel.
I think the people who make judgements such as: "It costs money, so they
must be a money-making group" or "He's kept so occupied that he doesn't even
have time for walks, so his mind cannot develop" or "The child is crying
and resisting, and they still go ahead with it. That's cruel" are closing
their eyes to many facts, and pass judgement using "common sense" and "good
or bad". This comes from lack of knowledge. But to such people, even this
is correct in terms of the information they are able to access. If we're
only talking about correctness. There are many things in this world that
are called good. I think whatever you do, it is good.
I am just a brain-injured child, and I cannot even eat or go to the toilet
by myself. Because I am not independent, in terms of common sense I cause
trouble for others. However, my father and mother, and the volunteers who
come to our house, seem very happy to look after me. To me, they even look
joyful. Are they foolish? What do you think?
The answer you are thinking of now is yours. You did not think of it
because of what I said. I think the answer always lies inside you.
I do not think you should believe me just because I am speaking here.
Even the people who like me are not required to believe me. However, if there
are people who resonate with me, that part of us is connected. Only in the
parts where the thoughts and emotions feel good.
I only speak. I do not wish to be judged, and neither do I wish to convince.
I simply exist here, and I simply show myself. I would be very happy if the
example that is myself can share something with you.
I am deeply grateful to have met you, even if it was not direct. I continue
that rehabilitation that I need to do. Please do not ask why. Please do what
you need to do, the things that make you feel good.
I look forward to seeing you again.
Thank you very much.
Luna
February 21, 1998
translated by Mayumi Mori & Victor Alexander H Debuque
>>> Message to the Global Univer-City in Morioka city, Iwate
Copyright © LUNA HIKI 1998. All rights reserved.
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