[Unit Project 1] A spoon that brings happiness?

[Unit Project 1]

A spoon that brings happiness?

              

 My artifact is a spoon. The length of it is approximately 15 cm. It is made in Japan and made of steel. It was made by a company called Kaijirushi. The company is well known for manufacturing cutlery and other metal products. The spoon was given by my parents. I have used it since I was kindergarten age. I use it for many years, so it has many scratches. And, maybe it has patterns or pictures but it is disappeared now.   Also, it has my name engraved on back of it. The color of the spoon is pale yellow like a butter, but the name is light pink.

 My parents gave me the spoon as a gift and from that moment on became a special thing for me. And, I have a lot of memories of this spoon as I have been using it since I was a child. However, they are not only pleasant memories but also bitter ones.

 The happening occurred when I was a kindergarten student.  At that time, whenever I wanted to eat something, I always used it. I liked that spoon that much.

 One day, I tried to use it as usual, but things did not go as usual. When I hold it to use, I heard my sister calling. I am a twin so my sister is the same age as me. However, since I was born earlier, people around me consider me her older sister. So, my sister often asks me to do something.

“Hey Moka!” my sister said. She called my name loudly many times. And then I had a bad feeling, because whenever she calls my name repeatedly, she always asks me to do something.

“What’s wrong?” I said to her.

“I want to borrow your spoon!” she said with a smile. I was very surprised, because she was the first person to try to borrow my spoon. And I couldn’t understand why I had to lend it to her, so, I refused to do it. And then, I was a little angry, because I knew the spoon belonged to me.

“My name is on it!” I said to my sister. “So, this spoon is mine and only I can use it!”.

Although I was young, I knew that anything with a name belonged to that person. You are supposed to use what is yours, right? And moreover, if it is a treasure.

Despite what I said, my sister has tried to borrow it many times. So, I angry with my sister. And soon we were arguing.

 A few minutes later my mother came and asked what happened. I told her everything. After that, my mother said “You are right, this spoon is yours. But it also important to lend something. Why don’t you lend her one?”

 I couldn’t understand when I heard it. “It is mine! Why I should I lend it to her?” I said out loud. And I was crying. I was very sad. I felt that if I lent that spoon to my sister, it would not belong to me. Am I asking you to give up your treasure? I thought.

 I cried for several minutes, then my mother said to me “The person who can lending something is good and kind! And after you do, it will still be yours.”

 I thought carefully about the meaning of my mother's words. Is it normal to lend something, no matter how precious, to someone in need? If so, it would be very mean not to lend it to them. The moment I thought that, I wanted to lend my sister a spoon. I didn't want to be a mean person like a bully.

Finally, I lend my spoon to my sister. There was a bit of confusion, but strangely enough, no bad feelings.

 “Thank you, Moka!” my sister said. I was very happy when I heard those words. I even wondered why I had refused to lend it to her.

 After this happening, I learned the importance of sharing own item even it is treasure. It was one of the ways to make everyone happy.

To present spoons has “special meanings” in some countries. In Europe, spoons are thought to bring happiness. This is because it is strongly associated with food, for example people give it to someone with the hope that you will never to worry about food for the rest of your life. Also, people in some countries present it to other people who have a baby to wish them happiness. On the other hand, this thought is not so popular in Japan. This is thought to be because people in Japan often use chopsticks instead of spoons when they eat something. However, we cannot use chopsticks as adults when we are children. So, as I mentioned in my story, spoons are special things for children to use every day.

Also, parents of young children often face the phenomenon of their children not giving things away to other children. This is something we all go through in the process of growing up. This is believed to be for several reasons. One is that it gives rise to the concept of "ownership. In other words, as they feel more and more that they own things, they feel more and more reluctant to lend things. Also, some people say that this is because children around that age are establishing their egos. Whatever the reason, this phenomenon is a necessary process for children to learn social behavior. In fact, I think I was able to learn social skills because of the events I described in my story.