I’ve always been a big reader, enough to get my Bachelor’s Degree in English (I know, what a nerd, right?) Every time I read a work of fiction, I try to work out what the connection is from the book to what I see going on in the world. The funny thing about it is that I never fail to come up with some sort of significant comparison. Literature is funny that way, in that you can read it at any point in history and it will still be relevant.

This weekend, I read Botchan. It’s a very short, classic Japanese novel by Natsume Sōseki. The main character is not a very likeable young man, and he’s constantly getting in trouble. But he’s a very honest character. He’s the first to own his own mistakes, and he never says anything except what he really thinks.

In the story, Botchan takes on a new job as a mathematics teacher in a rural middle school, even though he dislikes the countryside and he dislikes the people even more. But, he’s blown his whole inheritance on an education and he needs to start bringing in some cash (I’ve been there myself!)

When he arrives at his new school, he finds that all of his co-workers are disagreeable, scheming jerks who like to trash-talk the other teachers behind their backs. This passive-aggressive mode of operation doesn’t agree with the honest Botchan, and, being his honest self, he lets them know how he feels.

In the form of a savage beat-down.

Botchan leaves behind his resignation and runs back to Tokyo, deciding to get a job that involves less human interaction, and spending time with the only person he ever cared about, his old maid, Kyo, who was more like a grandmother to him than a servant.

I think that everyone has a tendency to harbor dislike for their fellow humans, as Botchan does. It’s so easy to get caught up on things such as varying moralities, modes of operation, or even political affiliations. Botchan was miserable in that rural town with new people, and his solution was to beat them all up and run away to his grandma’s house. That’s not a solution I agree with (although, man, it is so tempting to just let a couple fists fly every now and then, right?) In the real world, we don’t get to quit our jobs after throwing a temper tantrum and have everything turn out all right. We have to reinvest in having patience with people, and talking with them to figure out what they believe and why. Who knows? We might even learn something new.

With COVID-19 and the presidential race destroying our trust in one another, it’s tempting to go and hide at home and pretend that there aren’t other people in the world. This is NOT meant to be a partisan piece. Division means that two sides of one whole are separated- no one group is to blame and no one group will be able to solve every problem that the country faces. In the end it’s better to have patience and consider our opponents’ side of the situation. Even when they’re wrong.