Saturday, October 3, 2009-

見 – ケン - Ken.

It’s a Japanese term I found by chance when looking a different word up in the dictionary. When you pair it with other Chinese characters it is the symbol for seeing, hopes, chances, ideas, and opinions. Yet when it stands alone it means something different: One’s view on life. It’s odd that it took another language for me to understand what that term -“one’s view on life”- is all about.

My 見 is all about my hopes, my ideas, my opinions, and when it comes right down to it, how I look at what I’ve been dealt. Rotary has now proven to be a challenge at times, yet as I sit down tonight I realize that no matter where I spend the year (some of you will get what that means, some of you won’t) I am in JAPAN and I’m not going to let anything ruin that for me.

So if I’ve learned one thing from my time here so far it’s that the chance to live in a foreign country does not necessarily change your opinions or beliefs, but it does allow you to see through the eyes of a different culture. I just hope others realize what a wonderful idea Rotary can truly be. It is certainly changing my 見.