The Source of Youth by Kundo Koyama

数ヶ月前にナオさんが日本の雑誌の記事を僕に送ってきてくれた。そして彼女はこれを読みながら誰がこのライターにサーフィンを教えたのかがわかったらしい。なので彼女は英語に訳して僕に送ってきてくれた。僕は数分でサーフィンを理解した薫堂さんをはっきりと覚えていた。そして彼の人生初めてのライドを僕ははっきりと覚えている。この記事を送ってくれ英訳もしてくれててナオさんありがとう！

 
 

#20 The Source of Youth

Time is cruel yet fair, because it makes everyone old. I’ll soon be 55, but there are moments you get good out of getting old. First, very few people scold you (= which makes you selfish and wagamama!). You can pretty much get whatever you want (= which makes you loose curiosity! ) Whatever you do, people forgive you even if you don’t push yourself (= which makes you challenge less!)

Gain and loss are two sides of the coin. And if you can age while considering the balance of these two, you can live a wonderful life.

A friend of mine, who is a chairman of a major listed company got vessel license past the age of 60 because he wanted to sail around Japan on a yacht. During his sailing training camp, he was yelled by his 20 something year old instructor, called by first name basis every day. I thought he’d be really frustrated by that but instead, he said with a beaming smile “It felt great to be yelled at after so long!”

Last month I traveled to Hawaii for work and by chance, tried surfing for the first time. I have quite a few friends who list surfing as their hobby. Being so late in the game, I didn’t really feel the need to embarrass myself after all these years, but maybe the cool Hawaiian breeze pushed me bit to try. For some reason, that particular day, I felt like trying something I’ve never done before.

The American instructor who knows everything about the waves in Hawaii is around the same age as me. After learning how to stand on the board for like 3 minutes on the beach, he took me straight out to the middle of the ocean. “This area is the best spot so when the next wave comes, try to ride it” he suddenly says, so not really knowing what to do, I tried to copy what he said and…. What?.. I rode it..? And it was pretty long too. I thought it was beginners luck, and tried again. The next ride was even longer all the way close to the shore.

It was a feeling that I can’t find words to express. In addition to the great feeling of riding the wave, the joy of being able to do something for the first time in my life. I was so happy that I could feel something like this at my age.

Repeating challenge and overcoming challenge.. maybe that’s the real source of youth.

この波が薫堂さんの言ってた波だ。パーフェクトにサーフしパーフェクトに記憶している。 “挑戦と克服の繰り返し.. これこそが若さの正体かもしれない。”  gosh, i love that!!!