Sayo Masuda - When I was a nursemaid at the home of the...

When I was a nursemaid at the home of the landowners, a nun who happened to pass once gave me something square and white. Timidly I licked it and discovered that it was sweet and delicious. I realize now that it must have been a sugar cube; but still, more than twenty years later, I remember clearly the joy I felt then. It's not just children; everyone seems to be deeply touched by unexpected joy brought to them by others and is unable to forget it. That child will be grown up by now, and if he hasn't forgotten me, whenever he sees a crying child he'll want to say a kind word and wipe the kid's nose. And when that kid grows up, he'll do the same. To do something kind for another is never a bad feeling; it fosters a spirit of caring for other people. And who knows, after a hundrend years, human beings may even learn to cooperate with one another.. Yes, that was it: I'd try to teach children that if they felt glad when someone gave them a single piece of candy, then they in turn should give to others.