Community and Kigatsuku

Our project today took us to a local community center. It began as a food bank; and still functions primarily as such. But it has since expanded to include other essential services to families in need specific to its community....ESL classes, parenting classes, help navigating the paperwork of emergency benefits, etc.

We were there to help a group from Intel do Easter egg dying with children who were waiting for their parents to pick up their food. I was excited about this opportunity because it was one where I could include our six year old.

What I loved about this project was watching my children. Right from the start they dove right in and went to work. They saw what they could do to help, and they did it. No hanging around the corners, no waiting for someone to tell them where to go. Even my six year old saw what to do and did it.

There is a word I learned from a Japanese author: kigatsuku. It means, "an inner spirit to act without being told what to do, a willingness to serve, a self-motivated impulse toward goodness" (Chieko Okazaki, Cat's Cradle, Bookcraft, 1993, pg. 36). It is a rhythm of life: see a need, meet that need. It is a simple, everyday way of lifting where we stand. We don't need to go out of our way to do it; we don't need to sign up for projects or travel to third world countries, we only need to look around us and see how we can help the person right in front of us. It applies everywhere we go: our jobs, our homes, the grocery store, and yes, even on the roads!

There is something so deeply rewarding about watching your children fall into that rhythm, and doing it so well. They are kigatsuku.

Now imagine an entire community of kigatsuku. Imagine the power when an entire community of people work toward something better than just themselves. Imagine doing it even in small ways, imagine doing it without reward or compensation. It doesn't take any great organization or any program or leader or anything remotely complicated. It only requires each individual to see a need, and meet that need.

"The five third-graders from Wasatch Elementary who are having trouble learning the times tables don't need a legslative subcommitttee called to study educational outputs of seven hundred representative third graders in Arizona, New Jersey, and Nebraska. They need someone to sit down with them, just the five of them, and sing 'four times one is four, four times two is eight....' " (Chieko Okazaki, Cat's Cradle, Bookcraft, 1993, pg 37)

In the words of Leonardo Da Vinci, "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication."

Imagine what we could accomplish if we did the simplest thing: kigatsuku. See a need, meet a need.