(This picture was taken several days ago, on one rainy day when Seada was half asleep in her lab :-) - well, actually I was also so sleepy that day. I’m glad she’s not protesting when I asked her to pose in front of the Ajisai...)
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I heard and use the word Ajisai before I even knew what it actually is, and later I started to like it even before I ever saw it. Well, Ajisai is a name of a flower (紫陽花 - Hydrangea, don’t ask me more about it, since I don’t know much about flowers :-) ), quite beautiful flower indeed. Although it not as striking gorgeous as the sakura, it’s simply alluring. Like I told you before, I like the flower, and even Panasonic Scholarship Office (PSO) uses Ajisai as password for one of their sites (I can’t tell you which one for the site still on today).
What’s so special with Ajisai that makes PSO chose it as password (and makes me like it too)? Well, the main reason is that Ajisai is the Japanese flower for the month of June, and June is my birth-month (well, this is my reason, but (unfortunately) not the PSO’s :-) ). Why PSO chose the flower of June as their password was based on the story behind the flower.
Mr. Saito, the president of PSO at the time I came to Japan told us about the story. He said that the month of June is the rainy season (梅雨 - tsuyu) for most parts of Japan. Rain falls down almost everyday, and when it is not raining, the air is hot and damp, make it hard to spend the day comfortably. Because of the rain, most of the blossoms are destroyed, left the gardens of Japan with almost no flower to grace them. Among the small number of flowers left, there’s one that not only can stand the wearing weather, but also able to bloom elegantly, and (you’re right) it is Ajisai.
We can simply compare Ajisai to other flowers, and we will find that there are lots of flowers that possess the charm more than Ajisai. Well, it is not the look that makes Ajisai so special, it is its ability to successfully accomplish what other beautiful flowers cannot do that define its characters. The Ajisai illuminates the gardens when the season seems to make lots of people to be on the edge their temper, help them to calm down a bit and easing the severity of the days. It is not much that Ajisai can do, but it does what it supposed to do, and that little part that it does completes the wholeness of this universe.
In his speech, Mr. Saito asked us to become like the Ajisai, who could stand the hard times and keep on shining, to carry out something that it means to complete. Be like the Ajisai, who radiate it spirit around, helping other to stand the harshness of the day, even by doing so it has to stand tiring season that could vaporize the liveliness away.
So, when you feel that the path that you take becomes rough and makes you wanna give it up, just remember the Ajisai...
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