The One-Straw Revolution - Multiworld India

Foolishness Comes Out Looking SmartThe autumn nights are long and chilly. The time would be well spentgazing into glowing coals, hands pressed around a warm cup of tea. It issaid that anything is fine to talk about while sitting around the fire, andso, thinking that the grudges of my fellow farmers would be aninteresting topic, I have casually brought up the subject. But it seemsthere are going to be some problems.Here I have been, talking all the time about how everything is of noaccount, saying that humanity is ignorant, that there is nothing to strivefor, and that whatever is done is wasted effort. How can I say that andthen go on chattering like this? If I push myself to write something, theonly thing to write is that writing is useless. It is very perplexing.I do not care to dwell on my own past long enough to write about it,and I am not wise enough to predict the future. Stirring the fire whilemaking hearthside conversation on daily affairs, how can I ask anybodyto put up with an old farmer’s foolish notions?On the ridgetop of the orchard, overlooking Masuyama Bay and thebroad Dogo Plain, are several small, mudwalled huts. There, a handful ofpeople have gathered and are living a simple life together.151