Paradise Road- Creative
Paradise Road
Creative
I didn’t have to, but I did. It was an order, what other choice did I have? I was merely a low level officer; the power was in Hiroto’s hands. She broke the camp rules, outside dealings, but did she? It was medicine to save innocent women, innocent women who have been caught up in a war for power, which has resulted in the women becoming the powerless, and me the powerful. Each day I have to dig deep, keep on digging I tell myself, for reasons to be here; pride, family honour, dignity for my people, remember what father said; Japanese are the ones who made the Europeans rich, yet for hundreds of years the Europeans looked down upon us, now it’s Japan’s turn, still, my moral conscience has clouded my mind to the atrocities that I have seen, a short time ago I was a teacher of a class with half Japanese and half European, and they couldn’t see any differences, they looked to the inside, why can’t these officers look to the inside, morality in children is a quality that is needed now, yet I see the children in the camp being bashed by that brute Tomiashi, I want to help, but Japan is now powerful, Japan must prevail. I passed the fuel to Tanaka, my hand trembling, I wanted to latch onto the bottle, throw it away, throw all this away, is this how far we have come, is the power really worth this? Ablaze, my eyes cloud while I have to control myself not to react, I must be strong in front of these European women, the powerful are not weak, they have oppressed me, although I cannot see it, them crying is the first instance of any reminisce of human emotion since I left my teaching job in the village, I didn’t want to leave the students, but the European students had fled with their families and we had instilled in our minds that the powerful nation would prevail, but is power worth this? I feel the confusion and anguish drop over me like a sheet of cold rain that chills you to your spine, this is wrong, this is wrong, but it’s for the great
Creative
I didn’t have to, but I did. It was an order, what other choice did I have? I was merely a low level officer; the power was in Hiroto’s hands. She broke the camp rules, outside dealings, but did she? It was medicine to save innocent women, innocent women who have been caught up in a war for power, which has resulted in the women becoming the powerless, and me the powerful. Each day I have to dig deep, keep on digging I tell myself, for reasons to be here; pride, family honour, dignity for my people, remember what father said; Japanese are the ones who made the Europeans rich, yet for hundreds of years the Europeans looked down upon us, now it’s Japan’s turn, still, my moral conscience has clouded my mind to the atrocities that I have seen, a short time ago I was a teacher of a class with half Japanese and half European, and they couldn’t see any differences, they looked to the inside, why can’t these officers look to the inside, morality in children is a quality that is needed now, yet I see the children in the camp being bashed by that brute Tomiashi, I want to help, but Japan is now powerful, Japan must prevail. I passed the fuel to Tanaka, my hand trembling, I wanted to latch onto the bottle, throw it away, throw all this away, is this how far we have come, is the power really worth this? Ablaze, my eyes cloud while I have to control myself not to react, I must be strong in front of these European women, the powerful are not weak, they have oppressed me, although I cannot see it, them crying is the first instance of any reminisce of human emotion since I left my teaching job in the village, I didn’t want to leave the students, but the European students had fled with their families and we had instilled in our minds that the powerful nation would prevail, but is power worth this? I feel the confusion and anguish drop over me like a sheet of cold rain that chills you to your spine, this is wrong, this is wrong, but it’s for the great