"All I Asking For Is My Body" Part III

Toshio and Kiyoshi were settled with a debt that belonged to their parents, which was inherited to them at the same time by Mr. Oyama’s father.  In the Japanese culture, as in many others, the children are expected to repay their parents for and help them, if in need; however, times have been changing and, unlike past times when obeying our parents without questioning was the only option, now, we know that there’s a world out there and that there’s more than one way to do things.  Tosh and Kiyoshi were born on a traditional Japanese family but with the influences a more modern and liberal culture.  On one hand, teachers at school taught them to think for themselves and to understand that their lives belong only to them; that the choices they make should only depend on them, and not on what they have been told to do so.  They’re the owners of their own destiny.  They’re the owners of their lives.  They’re the owners of their bodies.  On the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Oyama were deeply in debt and, with a quite large family that kept growing, they depended on the tradition in which children put on hold their lives to help cover their parents’ needs in full, first.

Parents dictating over their children’s lives might have seen as the rightful think to do, many years ago; however, how can you ask someone who has the possibility, now, of accomplishing a better life to work as your ‘slave’ for 5, 10, 15 years?  Life is a gift, which means you don’t have to pay your parents for giving it to you.  Gratitude is a different situation.  One can feel grateful for what’s been given to us and return the favor by helping one’s parents, but this doesn’t mean that it’s one’s responsibility to give up live for XYZ years in order to repay.  It’s understandable that times were different, almost every civilization has gone through dramatic changes throughout history, and Toshio and Kiyoshi had the fortune or misfortune of being caught between two very distinct cultures during tough times.  Moreover, I consider that we’re never exactly the owners of our own lives.  Toshio was who fought the most to earn the right of calling himself the “owner of his body”, however, he fell in love and now his live belong to his family, just like Kiyo who on a desperate seek of freedom volunteered to go fight for his country and was ready to give his live for his nation.  “All I Asking for Is My Body” is a good title for the book; however, it’s more about having the right to make our own decision over our lives and bodies.