“UNLESS”
同志社国際高等学校

１年

蔭木佳奈

Imagine when you were a little kid. You’re at school and the teacher isasking a question to the students. Before the teacher is able to finish his or
her question, small hands shoot high up in the air like rockets. They raise
their hands as high as they can, and some of them wave their hands side toside for attention. I miss those days. I really do . . .
I lived in America for about ten years in an environment like that. So I
have always thought that raising my hand during class was something normal.
I came back 3 years ago. Excited to go to my new school, but at the sametime scared. Scared that I wouldn’t be able to fit in. I had no problems withmaking new friends but when classes started, it was totally different fromwhat I expected. When the teacher asked a question to the students, I thought
everyone was going to raise their hands, but . . . it was complete silence. Only
the sound of birds chirping outside.

But every time my hand went up in the air, the other students looked at me
as if I wasn’t normal. Some of them even rolled their eyes thinking, oh, it’s
her again. After a few weeks, I noticed that my hand wasn’t going up
anymore. When it rarely did, it only went up to my chest, and I couldn’t
straighten my arms. And when I answered, I always started with, “I’m notsure if I’m right”. I was afraid of saying the wrong answer and feelingembarrassed. After a few months since the first day of school, I noticed that I
had become like everyone else. When a new returnee came to school, theyraised their hands during class to share ideas. And every time they did so, I
too sometimes rolled my eyes thinking, oh, it’s her again. And sadly, by theend of the year, they stopped raising their hands.
But there was a girl. She came back from America and joined the English
class that I was in. Like every returnee, she raised her hand and shared wellthought ideas that always amazed me. But what I was more amazed about

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I got used to this situation after a few days so I kept raising my hand.was that she never gave up. Even if her classmates rolled their eyes or sighed
whenever she spoke, she never stopped raising her hand. I once overheard hertalking about how it was difficult for her to raise her hand because herclassmates seemed unpleasant whenever she spoke. She was going through a
hard time just like every returnee. However, she didn’t become like me, norlike the other returnees. She kept sharing her ideas.
Over the last few years I’ve noticed how the environment that you’re incan change how you think, how you act, and your capability of doing things.
And I’ve also noticed that even if it’s a single person, he or she can change
other people’s ideas. The girl who kept raising her hand changed how I
thought about my participation during class.
“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going toget better. It’s not.” This is an excerpt from The Lorax by Dr. Seuss. Though
the story itself focused on the conservation of the environment, I interpret itin a different way. I think it’s telling me that if I don’t try to change thethings that I do, nothing is going to change around me. There’s so muchinformation going around in this world that most of us don’t know about.
Each and every one of you knows something that the person next to you
高校生―Ｉ部門

might not know. Sharing our ideas openly may spark an idea in someone, or
inspire them to act and make a change in society. I’m sure some of the great
inventors like Thomas Edison and Steve Jobs were inspired by thoughts andideas from those spoken around them. So, I have decided that from now on, I’m
going to raise my hand in class. And maybe, just maybe, if I keep sharing myideas, someone might become brave enough to shares their ideas too.
So I want to take this opportunity to say something to every one of you.
Unless someone like you tries to change things, nothing is going to change.
It’s not.

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