A Complaint Free World
A friend of mine, N-chan, gave me a purple bracelet some time ago. The bracelet is labeled A Complaint Free World.org (http://www.acomplaintfreeworld.org)
This is what their website says about them:
A Complaint Free World, inc. is a non-profit, non-religious entity which provides purple bracelets and other materials to help people affect positive change in their lives. We are in the process of creating additional programs for adults and children which support our mission and vision of creating a world of positive cooperation.
The principle is: "If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude" - maya angelou
It's quite interesting what you should do with the bracelet. First, you wear it on one side of your hand, then if you or anyone find yourself complaining, you should shift the bracelet to the other hand. If you notice your friend who is wearing the same bracelet complains, then you should points out to that person so that s/he shift it, and by doing so you have to shift yours too (since you're complaining that s/he is complaing *love this part* :)
Our mission is to wear it on the same side of the hand for 21 days non-stop, which means, 21 days of no complain. After that, we are entitled to be free from the bracelet.
I don't actually follow the rules of the game as I only wear it on the same side (more for practical issue; the bracelet is a little too big for my left hand, thus it always slips off). And even if I don't complain for 21 days straight (which is not so probable anyway), I'd like to continue to wear it for as long as possible (till the color turns into some other colour perhaps :p).
It's nice to be reminded of this. One of my struggles in Japan from the beginning of time is to be able to sit still in a conversation between people speaking Japanese language. I had to go through many boring business sessions and I kinda have enough of it. With work, I have no other choice. But in a private setting, I expect my friends, especially my bros and sis in Christ, to be considerate. I totally understand if sometimes they want to speak in Japanese because some things are better expressed in our native language. But not in a long time, because they should know there is someone around who doesn't understand the talk or worse the joke (coz everyone's laughing and you're the only one with straight face) and thus feeling left out. I'd like to think that I'd probably be more considerate if I were them, but then who knows.
Anyway, recently this struggle was hitting me hard. I guess it's the accummulation of the times I'm spending with Japanese and I just felt that I couldn't handle it anymore. It's not that I'm not studying Japanese.. I am.. but learning language is quite difficult for me actually.. I'm more a number person rather than word person (give me Sudoku and not crossword). But of course, this is just another of my excuses. So then a friend of me reminded me to put in much more effort into studying Japanese, rather than expecting people around me to be more considerate (and getting frustrated when they aren't). I gotta admit I haven't done enough to improve my Japanese. My friend even suggested me to study every day (hiks!) and now I actually want to follow this advice. Ganbarimasu!
posted by e-leti @ 10:21 AM
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