Last weekend Aarwen attended a graduation. Not her own, but delightfully her first. She sat there in the crowd assembles in an open amphitheater. The ceremony held an atmosphere of its own. Lofty Latin phrases floated down lazily in the space around her. Emotions ran high and inspiration made its sure footed entrance. The one place it knew it would forever be greeted with open arms.
But Aarwen had heard commencement speeches, tagged under motivational content, in Youtube. From Shahrukh Khan to J.K Rowling, a variety of content creators with one theme. It hadn’t fully dawned on Aarwen till that moment in the amphitheater where the only sound heard, was from the crows flying over trees dotting the far-off raised ends of the place.
Youth was ripe with possibilities. Almost silly of Aarwen to need a graduation, and that too not her own, to realize this, when its the primary reason she still loves to read YA novels. That burning desure to change the world, the conviction that everything is achievable and possible. The quick flare of emotion, the darkest despair and the blossoming of hope. The your heart open to everything life has to offer even if the young mind claims to be an adult.
So no wonder these commencement speeches have a way of becoming profound. Youth is profound. in such a profound speech, the speaker explained yutori, a Japanese word.
Long after Aarwen left the amphitheater her mind still contemplated the word. Lazywiz and Aarwen debated if Japanese were inherently an evolved culture with words like Zen, Ikigai and Yutori. Words that the rest of the world is striving so hard to fathom.
It wasn’t just an interpretation of the word. The word itself meant this thing. A single word that allows room in one’s life to slow down or accept failure. Leaving room to be patient and kind to oneself. reaching early to leave room to start without hurry. Leaving room to make mistakes knowing you will make them and openess to know one day, if you tried hard enough or were merely lucky, you might get it right. A word about finding balance and not being overly consumed by the pressures of life, allowing for a more mindful and less stressful existence. Feels powerful. To have such a word in your vocabulary. Not needing enlightening metaphors to come up with a representation of what the word stands for. Just knowing the meaning of the word.
Aarwen mused with the idea that its like the word “love” in English. Sure, there is “romance” and “affection” too. But Hindi, Sanskrit, Urdu and Bollywood songs have added so many words to the Hindi speaking lovers’ arsenal – sneh, pyar, prem, mohabbat, ishq, mamta. A mother’s love, affection for a young one, a leover’s yearning and passion. Words that mean distinct faces of love and need to other qualification to explain the nuance.
Anyway, Yutori gave me an opening to write. I took the insipiration and decided to share it with you, here at Writersbrew. We don’t always need to be young or at a graduation in an open air baroque ampitheater to be inspired. But, as Aarwen wisely points out, sometimes these things do help. All one needs is the openess in life to slow down and accept the help.
