American Tune

American Tune
　　　　　by KAZUNORI ISHII M.D.

1) “Kane and Abel” (※１) is a novel by Jeffrey Archer, a popular British author in the 1980s. Archer wrote many best-selling novels, which eventually helped him get elected as a Member of Parliament. Unfortunately, a sex scandal involving a woman forced him to resign.
“Kane and Abel” is the story of two poor Polish brothers who emigrated to America to become successful businessmen in the early 20th century.
They hated each other.
It was made into a movie as well. One of the brothers worked as a waiter at a five-star hotel restaurant, and got ideas for starting a business by observing the behavior, habits, attitudes and the ways of thinking of wealthy people. He eventually realized that it was not necessarily easy to distinguish wealthy people simply by their clothing and accessories. This episode possibly shows that whether or not you can grab at a chance depends on how you deal with your job—no matter what kind of work you do.
In my case, I did odd jobs like handing out pocket tissues and fliers in my school days. I gradually figured out who would or wouldn’t accept a flier by observing the age, gender, clothing, hairstyle, walking speed and facial expressions of the people passing by. My job experience taught me the importance of overall impression of a person; and that a person is the generator of the general impression that he/she sends out.
For instance, when you are on a train and the conductor comes up to you to check your train ticket, most of you hardly remember his face because of the impact of the uniform. I think this is an example of the effect of appearance.

2) Today’s increasingly unequal society and rising number of temporary workers are creating serious social problems. In the 1990s, the American TV series “Beverly Hills 90210” (Japanese title: Beverly Hills Youth White Paper) was a huge hit (90210 is the zip code). In one episode, the main character, a high school girl named Brenda, talks to her mother about her future, saying, “I don’t want to go to college. I want to work as a designer or something related to fashion.” Her mother replies realistically: “We live in a truly harsh world for people without an education or qualifications.”
In Japan, society is divided into winners and losers, the gap between rich and poor widening. It feels like we are in a hopeless situation and have to fight against despair every day. This is not an easy issue since there is no good place to educate teenagers about the reality of the society. Even with an education and qualifications from school, once I started to work I soon realized the necessity of developing good people skills. Furthermore, when I look around me, I have to admit that luck plays a large part in life. All attendees at a medical school alumni reunion are, or course, doctors. It’s not at all true that doctors are great people simply because of their profession. I feel that a person needs other things to enrich him.
When I was temporarily assigned to a hospital in Chiba, a young female pharmacist said to me: “I’m going to resign this month.” She implied that she had had some problems. When I asked her if she had found a new job, she replied: “I will work for a scuba diving business since I am a qualified scuba diver instructor.” I honestly envied her and pitied myself having nothing but a medical license.

3) What about the work ethic?
In the novel “A Message to Garcia” the President of the country orders a officer to deliver a message to Garcia, who is out of touch in enemy territory. The officer simply says, “Yes, Sir,” and carries out the order to complete the President’s mission. The President had full confidence in the officer because he didn’t ask where Garcia was.
In life we can gripe: “Why do I have to do this job?” We can have all sorts of negative attitudes toward work or make excuses. However, the key to doing a good job is being accountable for the outcome. Ingenuity and proactive problem-solving may be necessary.

4) There is a saying that one of the purposes in life is self-fulfillment through work. Is work success directly linked to a person’s satisfaction and happiness?
Lee Trevino (born on December 1,1939 in Texas) was a professional golfer in the 1970s. Nicknamed “The Merry Mex,” he always wore a smile on the golf course. Relatively small in stature (170cm, 80kg), he had a characteristic swing designed to fade the ball that led to a triumphant record including 29 PGA Tour, 29senior tour and six Major Championship wins. Nobody argues about his huge success as a professional golfer.
I would often watch him beat Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson with his tricky shots.Trevino was one of my favorite golf players.

The May 2008 issue of the monthly Golf Digest featured Mother’s Day messages from professional golfers. They expressed their gratitude for their mothers.

Tiger Woods: “My mother accepted me as is. That’s why I was able to pull myself together.”

Nick Faldo: “My mother believed in my getting onto the hard path of a professional golfer.”

Lee Trevino’s message is quoted from p. 161 of the 2008 May issue of Golf Digest:

“My mother never said anything good about me, and I didn’t have much self-esteem."

"I grew up in a poor family. Six of us lived in a small house: my grandfather, parents, two sisters and me. We were very poor and lived from hand to mouth. My mother didn’t have time for me. We had no TV or anything, but I thought most people lived like us. My first marriage ended in divorce because I couldn’t take care of my children. I had no confidence as a golfer. I thought I would never get better even if I practiced. All that was because my mother never said anything good about me. If I had had a happy childhood, I may have made a better golfer. No use saying that now though.”

In spite of his excellent six Major Championship wins, he was not satisfied or confident. His message sounds as if he were a loser.

Today’s mainstream psychology says that self-esteem and a sense of achievement are largely attributable to childhood experiences. Lack of parental affection and a dysfunctional family environment tend to develop mental instability in a child that continues into adulthood.



5)Professional success and lots of money are still not enough to prevent the cold winds that can penetrate the heart.

“American Tune” (※２) is a Paul Simon classic. Some of the lyrics go like this:

Many’s the time I’ve been mistaken
And many times confused

We come on the ship they called the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age’s most uncertain hour
And sing an American tune

The Puritans sailed from England aboard the Mayflower and landed to the south of present-day Boston in America. Three hundred years later American astronauts flew to the moon aboard Apollo 11. The Americans made amazing progress in their national development and scientific technology. Yet, it seems that material wealth alone does not necessarily make them happy.

When I was a medical intern, I once attended to a patient of kidney disease
at the age of 60s. He had worked for a musical box assembly plant for more than 30 years. When he was discharged from the hospital, I asked him what he would do about his work. He said that he would like to continue. I asked him: “Isn’t it boring working at a plant?” He replied: “I feel happiest when I’m working on a precision assembly because I can forget all my troubles and sufferings.” I was ashamed of my shallow views.
Maybe Charlie Chaplin’s “Modern Times” prejudiced me into thinking that menial factory labor would dehumanize us. People with high expectations in daily life are likely to get frustrated. We can be happier than ever simply by changing our attitudes on life



6)What is the meaning of work in life? What is an occupation?
Some years ago, a family member’s company went bankrupt, and I, as a proxy, went to the family court to file for personal bankruptcy and refusal of succession as part of debt consolidation. I was nervous at first, not knowing how to fill out the forms. When I asked the court clerk, he replied with disarming simplicity, “Just leave them blank where you aren’t sure.”
It went so smoothly that I felt like I was at a library returning a book. But if you think about it, those family court clerks are handling cases of personal bankruptcy, refusal of succession, divorce procedure, inheritance disputes and crime of
youth 24/7. That’s their job! That reopened my eyes to what it means to work.

After filing for personal bankruptcy and refusal of succession three times I get pretty casual about it. What surprised me the most was that those filing forms were slightly different from court to court. I thought they were standardized nationwide, but the forms and content varied by municipalities.
The debt clearing went smoothly while one of the real-estate agents involved in the case died, two were arrested and another one is still in prison.
All this gave me such a shock that I felt threatened and rewrote my will three times. When the police investigation was over, I walked out the police station door totally exhausted. I managed to get into a taxi but couldn’t hold back my tears. The radio in the taxi was playing “Love Is Blue” by Paul Mauriat. Actually I didn’t care for the song, but it was the perfect healing tune for me as I shed every last tear.


（※１）
“Cain and Abel” is a biblical story in the Book of Genesis. After Adam and Eve were barred from the Garden of Eden, their children Cain and Abel were born. Cain was jealous of his younger brother Abel and killed him. The episode tells us that the first murder in human history was between brothers. Spelling is
different between Bible and a novel by Archer.

（※２）
Paul Simon wrote “America” and “American Tune.” These are two different songs: the former was written during Simon and Garfunkel(1968).
The latter was by Paul as a solo artist(1973). They are both great songs.
Especially, “American Tune” was chosen as “ Song of the year” by Rolling Stone
Magazines.