5月母の日...
ある夫人の体験談
終戦間近か夫は1年前「ビルマ」で戦死 !!
田舎の工業地帯もひんぱんにアメリカ軍の空襲を受ける。
町の教会にはアメリカ兵の捕虜が収容されている。
兵士達は、防空壕を掘る作業をされていて、その内の一人が、喉が渇き
耐え兼ねて井戸の水をくみ上げ口にしょうとした時、
通りかかりの主婦が、つるぎをもぎ取り水を巻き捨てた。
「お前たちに飲ます水は一滴もないよー」
彼女がその光景を見て、私の夫もこうして一滴の水を求めて異国の地で死んだのではないか....
そう思うと彼女からアメリカ兵への敵対心は消えた。
急いで水を汲み上げて立ち去ろうとする兵士の為に道端の草むらにつるべをそっと置いた。
兵士は喉を鳴らして飲んだ。その後一人又一人と来て水を飲んで行った。
いつしか水くみは彼女の日記となるが、その行為に増悪の目を向ける日本人もいた。
彼女は心から思った!!
"どこの国の兵士も故国には家族があり、暖かい団らんの家庭がある...
だれが喜んで戦争などするものか、悪いのは戦争であり民衆を巻き込むのが指導者である。
終戦になると、立場は一変した。
集配に行く彼女に兵士らがお礼のチョコレートを差し出したが、家で待つ娘を思うと
喉から手が出るほど欲しかったが、もらってはならないと道を急ぐ
---私はそんな事を望んでした事では無いし、敗戦国といってもプライドがあった---
その後彼女は娘を立派に育て上げる........

現在も多くの友人が各国に嫁いでいる。
体験談の彼女と言い、友人達の苦労は大変な事だとおもいながらも
芯の強さと心の気高さがうかがえる。女性はやはり、そうした意味での
"自立"の強さを持つべきである。


Mother's Day is coming in May.
I heard the story of a lady who survived World War II.

The lady's husband died in Burma during World War II.
After his died, near the end of the war in 1945, Japanese industrial area was frequently hit by US military air raids.
The war was prolonged, and American prisoners of war were housed in the church in the town.
POW American soldiers were forced to dig an air raid shelter.
When one of the Americans tried to pump up the water from the well and drink it because he was thirsty, the passerby did not let him pump the water.
The person shouted, "We don't have a drop of water to drink to you!"

When she saw the scene, she was saddened, "Maybe my husband died in a foreign land where he couldn't understand the language without drinking a drop of water."
She has lost her hatred of American soldiers, who are trapped in a foreign land, albeit an enemy.
For an American soldier rushing away, she gently placed a well vat in the grass on the side of the road to pump water.
The soldiers hurriedly pumped and drank water.

Lending a well vat became her daily routine.
However, some Japanese expressed anger and hatred to her for her actions against the prisoners of war of American soldiers.
She thought from her heart strongly!!
"Every soldier from every country has a family in their homeland! Who is willing to head to the battlefield!"
The bad things are the war itself and the leaders involved in the people.

At the end of the war, her position changed completely.
American soldiers offered her a thank-you chocolate to her as she went to pick up what she needed.
She wanted chocolate if she was thinking of her daughter waited at home, but she thought she shouldn't get it.
--- I just shared the water with you, I didn't do it for any reward, and I had pride even though I was a defeated country ---
After that, she raised her daughter well.

Many of my friends are married to people from different countries now.
I suppose the hardships of her friends are tough such as the above story, but every friend has strength and nobility.
Women should have the strength of "independence".