煌 Sparkle

　寒空(さむぞら)の下、一心不乱に一人で街の落ち葉掃きをしている翔子を見た。私は悲鳴をあげてしまった。お部屋で暖かくしていれば良いものを・・・手をこ凝らせて街の掃除をするなんて！
　奉仕などという言葉さえ知らないだろうに、私が教えたことでもないのに、一体何に駆られているのだろう？まだ三歳の頃にも、保育園で皆が暖かい部屋で父兄の迎えを待っているのに、翔子だけ一人で冷たい雑巾を持って下駄箱の掃除をしていた。これまでこの様な翔子の奉仕する姿を何度も見てきた。これは翔子に根ざす本能なのだろう。
　人間は本来、その体の裡に奉仕の心を持っているのだ、と思った。たかが落ち葉掃きだけれど、寒中での真剣な行為に、何か厳粛なものを見た気がした。人間って良いものだ、と思った。

I saw Shoko, concentrating and raking up fallen leaves in the town by herself under the cold sky.
I screamed. I should have stayed warm in my room... but instead I went to the trouble of cleaning up the city!
Shoko probably don't even know the word "service," and I've never taught Shoko this, so what drives Shoko?
Even when she was just three years old, while everyone else at nursery school was in the warm rooms waiting for their parents to pick them up, Shoko was alone, picking up a cold rag and cleaning the shoe lockers. I had seen Shoko serving others like this many times before. It must be an instinct deep within Shoko.
I thought that humans inherently have a spirit of service deep within them. It was just raking up fallen leaves, but I felt like I saw something solemn in that earnest act in the cold. I thought to myself that humans are good things.