Thursday, April 23, 2009

No right or wrong in life

My new life begins only in late July. That means there’s several months to go before I get to experience that new life and much-needed new waves of adrenaline rush. I was planning to carry on with my design work for now, at least until I can’t cope and have to give it up but my regular clients have not been feeding me with new projects lately. I’m thus inching closer towards the state of boredom, again. I need to snap out of this unhealthy state of mind, my inner me reminded when I got up from bed yesterday.

I decided to catch a movie then go to the library to research on my long-forgotten English assignment. I saw School Days With a Pig (Buta Ga Ita Kyôshitsu), an award-winning Japanese movie based on a true story. I liked it so this post is about the movie. It tells of a young, enthusiastic school teacher Mr Hoshi who brought a piglet into the classroom to teach his sixth graders on the connection between life and food. He got the children to raise the pig and proposed that the pig be eaten when it’s big enough. Why raise a pig? Well, he felt that a chicken would have been too easy.

Anyway, children being children, they found the little piglet cute and fun to play with. They adopted it like a pet, built a colourful sty for it to live in and even gave it a name, P-chan. The children had to collect leftover food to feed their pet. Besides the fun part of feeding and playing with the pig, the kids also had to take turns to clean up it’s smelly pee and poo.

Parents started complaining about the pig and how much it was affecting the lives of the children. One kid got home dirty and smelling like a pig, another was eating less at home so that more leftovers could be collected for P-chan, while a third refused to eat pork at home. But despite all the complaints, the principal reminded the parents that none of the complaints were against the teacher Mr Hoshi. The parents had to agree in silence.

As the school terms progressed, the children’s bond with the pig got closer. The children were reminded they had to decide what to do with the pig once graduation day arrives. They started debating whether they should keep the pig and if it was right for them to eat P-chan. Some were against the killing of the pig but others argued that wasn’t that the original objective of the project? Some of the questions that popped up in the debate included: 1. Who decides on the length of a life? 2. Is raising a pig for its meat cruel or is the eating of meat itself cruel? 3. Is it right to keep this pig and yet continue to eat other pork? Everyone was given equal opportunities in class to voice their opinions and as arguments took place, tempers began to flare. The teacher did not take sides nor tried to play down anyone’s argument. He remained a fair moderator throughout and stood by his initial stand that there won’t be any right or wrong decision. And after two rounds of voting, the class was still split on whether to keep the pig or send it to the meat centre. The teacher eventually decided that he being part of this class and project should cast the final deciding vote. I shall not tell you the answer nor more of the story here, just in case you are interested to catch the movie.

This movie was made documentary-style with some parts shot on a handheld camera. I kind of enjoyed that. It’s got lots of laughter and tears as well so generally, I found it rather entertaining and thought provoking. In the midst of the show, I actually wondered if a similar project could take place here and if it could, would our P6 kids be able to discuss and argue their viewpoints like the kids in the movie? Would they really learn the responsibility of caring for a life, albeit it's just a pig, to love and treasure it like a pet?

I have to agree with the teacher’s viewpoint that there’s no right or wrong in life. The moment we start to think or judge, it’s already wrong. Right? Hehehe! If you want more information on the movie, here’s a link http://pig.catchplay.com

ps: The kids were really good actors in the movie and that Mr Hoshi (Satoshi Tsumabuki), he’s good too…his role, his acting, his looks! :pp

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