Episode 1: "I Was About to Say Something..."

One evening, as usual, I found myself glancing at the clock.

(I still have to fold the laundry and start making dinner... I wonder if Yuki has finished his homework.)

When I looked over, my elementary school-aged son, Yuki, was completely absorbed in making something at his desk.

"Honestly, what is he doing now?"

I quietly watched him.

He seemed totally focused on whatever he was building.

"Huh?"

"No, that's not it."

He kept picking up one small part after another, changing his mind each time.

"Maybe this one..."

I could hear him whispering to himself.

It didn't work.

So he started over.

Again and again.

But he never gave up.

My son usually lost interest quickly, so seeing him so deeply absorbed was unusual. Before I realized it, I was watching him just as intently.

No one had told him what to do.

He was thinking for himself.

Trying things for himself.

(Well... this is a surprise. Yuki, of all people.)

It was a strange feeling.

After a while, he finally finished.

When I saw the look on his face, I was a little surprised.

"I did it!"

It wasn't quite the same expression he wore after getting a perfect score on a school test.

Nor was it the look of someone who had beaten someone else.

It was the joy of thinking for himself and overcoming the challenge on his own.

Looking back now, I think that was what his expression meant.

It was as if his face was telling me that an experience has a value that can never be measured by numbers.

...

We live in a wonderfully convenient age.

Whenever we don't know something, we can look it up instantly.

Watch a video, and it will even show us exactly how to make it.

...

Ever since that day, Yuki has sometimes said,

"Wait a second."

Before then, he would have quickly given up and said,

"I don't know."

What exactly he was making on his desk that day...

I honestly can't remember anymore.

But there is one thing I do remember.

From that day on,

it seemed that

he began to enjoy

thinking.