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An essay by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda from a series based
on his
meetings with inspiring individuals
from around the world
Mottainai--the Spirit of Reverence for Life
Dr. Wangari
Maathai, Founder of the Green Belt Movement
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Dr. Maathai meeting with SGI President Ikeda in Tokyo,
February 2005 [©Seikyo
Shimbun]
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Dr. Wangari Maathai is traveling around the world urging the
importance of protecting our natural environment with the
rallying cry mottainai. Why has this Japanese
word--which means, "What a waste!"--so
captured Dr. Maathai’s imagination? The moment I saw her
beaming, forthright smile at our meeting in February 2005, I
understood immediately: because she is a mother--a
representative of all the mothers of Africa.
Dr. Maathai is also known as the mother of the Green Belt
Movement, a grassroots movement to plant trees in many
African countries. In the past 30 years, poor rural women
have joined Dr. Maathai in planting
more than 30 million trees across Africa. They are women who
must rise early in the morning and walk many miles each day,
their infant children strapped to their backs, in search of
water and firewood. This
movement to make their lives easier and at the same time
protect the natural environment is indeed a movement of
mothers, for mothers and by mothers.
It’s only to be expected that Dr. Maathai, who has led such
a movement for decades, should be impressed by the wisdom of
Japanese mothers as exemplified by their byword,
mottainai.
For people of my generation, who lived through World War II,
the word mottainai reminds us of our mothers. Any
scrap of food left over from our dinner or its preparation
was transformed by our mothers’
hardworking hands into a delicious home-cooked treat to fill
the stomachs of her growing children. She pickled the leaves
cut off the top of radishes, chopped vegetable peelings into
a tasty side dish, and
served us leftover grilled fish as our afternoon snack. Kids
were proud to wear pants with patches their mothers had sewn
on their knees. Mothers were masters of a science of
nutrition based on love, a home
economics based on thrift and ingenuity.
The spirit of loving care that precluded wasting anything
was one of Japan’s most admirable virtues in those times,
and it was intimately linked to a nurturing ethos of
reverence for life and consideration
for others. I am sure I am not alone in lamenting the loss
of this spirit as one reason behind the loss of humanity so
painfully evident in our world today.
My wife, who also experienced the privation of the war
years, has always striven to be thrifty and economical in
managing our household. She never wastes so much as a grain
of rice, and any leftovers from
dinner are certain to make a second appearance at another
meal. Recycling is second nature to her, and she has always
saved things like wrapping paper and ribbon for reuse.
These examples of everyday ingenuity and resourcefulness may
seem slight or negligible, but mothers of the world have
used this homespun wisdom and love as effective tools for
sustaining their families and
improving their lives.
My mentor, second Soka Gakkai president Josei Toda, wore and
treasured throughout his life a thickly padded jacket his
mother had sewn for him. When he left his remote hometown in
northern Japan and went to Tokyo at the age of 19, his
mother said to him: "No matter how badly things seem to be
going, if you wear this jacket you’ll be able to accomplish
anything." Mr. Toda never forgot his mother’s deep love for
a moment. Whenever he found himself facing daunting
adversity, he rallied his spirits with the determination to
demonstrate his gratitude for his mother’s love, telling
himself, "I’ll be fine as long as I have this jacket."
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Dr. Maathai meeting with students, Soka University in Tokyo
[©Seikyo
Shimbun] |
Dr. Maathai also conceived of her Green Belt Movement out of
compassion and concern for the future of her children and
her homeland of Kenya. She applauds the noble, ordinary
women who participate in the movement as "foresters without
diplomas." Their committed solidarity and steadfast efforts
in their communities are not only preventing the
desertification of Africa but also raising consciousness of
environmental issues in the minds of people the world over.
Their service to humanity and the Earth far exceeds that of
any national leader. Lawmakers should take note of this
fact, recognizing the wisdom, spirit and actions of the
people with the respect they deserve. Unfortunately,
however, the elites who lead the world’s nations--the
politicians, the bureaucrats, the academics--tend to look
down on such
popular movements.
In a speech given in February 2006 at Soka University, Dr.
Maathai said that politicians inevitably try to take
advantage of the people, and so it is vital for the people
to prevent that by involving themselves in government. This
is indeed true. I believe that democracy in the 21st century
needs to be based upon learning from the wisdom of mothers,
the representatives of the people, and putting the
intelligence of women to the fullest possible use.
My mother is also the starting point of my activities for
peace. She remained brave and undaunted though four of her
sons were taken away from her, one after another, to fight
in World War II. But when, after
the war, she received the news that her eldest son had been
killed in the fighting, she was heartbroken. I will never
forget the sight of her pain and sorrow at that moment as
long as I live.
The sorrow of one good-hearted mother is the sorrow of
millions of mothers. War, which forces the mothers of the
world into submission and subjects them to starvation and
such bitter grief, must never be
permitted, no matter what the circumstances. War is the work
of devils. A truly happy society is one in which such
suffering of mothers has been entirely eliminated.
Youth Are Hope
During the war, many of the trees of the neighborhood in
Tokyo where I was born and raised were destroyed in the air
raids. The few that were spared were cut down to provide
fuel for military purposes. The large
cherry tree in our yard also fell cruel victim to the ax,
and a weapons factory was built on the site where it
formerly stood.
Strangely, in one part of my neighborhood several cherry
trees remained standing, amidst their desolate surroundings.
After the war, the trees sent out buds and bloomed profusely
again, as if to encourage the people passing under their
branches. I recall my mother’s expression of solace when she
gazed up at their flowers.
And at that moment, I made a decision: in the future, I
would plant cherry trees all over Japan. I have been true to
this dream of my youth, planting commemorative trees in the
fertile soils of countries around the globe, with the prayer
for the growth and development of each nation and for the
good health of my friends living there.
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Women of the Green Belt Movement
[©Charlotte
Thege/Uniphoto] |
Planting a tree is planting life; it is fostering the
future, fostering peace--these are beliefs that Dr. Maathai
and I found we shared at the deepest level when we met and
talked.
I asked a group of young people to join me in welcoming Dr.
Maathai, the mother of African environmentalism, just as I
had when we welcomed South African President Nelson Mandela,
the father of
human rights in Africa (in October 1990). I did this out of
my wish to communicate and pass on the thoughts and actions
represented by both African leaders to future generations. I
wished youth to engrave
the prayers of those many nameless African mothers deep in
their hearts.
Dr. Maathai said: "No matter how hopeless the situation
seems, the light of hope can shine." What strength, what
optimism! The hope she referred to is, no doubt, the young
people of whom she has such
high expectations.
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