Naoki Hamanaka sends in a video with a message Naoki’s hidden village is his page on facebook.;
” Here is the story behind the video” …………….. Naoki Hamanaka
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I was 3 years old when my brother was born. As a proud brother, I took care of him, went out together, and fought. We were just like any brothers out there.
As we grew older, I realized something was different. His speech had not progressed as others. There were many things he couldn’t do, that other people wouldn’t understand.
I was his brother but also his caretaker.
When he caused trouble, I had to explain he didn’t do it purposely, I had to apologize to others for him. It was hard but I had accepted it as a role as a brother, until one day I saw how different the society actually is, from our reality.
One day he was acting up at a station. As always I was trying to control him, so that he wouldn’t hurt anyone, and we wouldn’t get in trouble… but people wouldn’t understand. A random man came up to me, with anger in his face. And yelled right at my face “Don’t bully him!!”…… …… really? I was taking care of him…
Sometimes people were mean to him, and I would defend him. But when it was in my turn… I couldn’t say anything. I still remember this burning emotion in me vividly as it was.
I felt sad, mad, frustrated, lost, useless… all those emotions. But then I realized……..
Although sometimes he wouldn’t understand the situation, that is the world he lives in. Where the people wouldn’t understand, and yell at him for something he couldn’t control.
What’s worse. The people see no value in him, but troubles, even burden, and uselessness…
As he approached adulthood, the world had become a harder place to live in. Because somehow in this world, somehow if you are not productive, you tend to be seen as:
“Worthless”
Since then, my goal has been set.
“Prove his worth to the world” and “Create a world where we are all valuable just by living.”
Later on, I entered Business administration in University.
I didn’t think much at first, but as my study progressed, I started to understand why he is considered useless, and worthless. And upon graduation, I decided to write a thesis about “Disability and economy”.
It was an attempt to examine whether disabled people are really a burden to society / economy, and then prove their worth.
I looked into many historical records and recent researches, philosophies and ideologies. And my answer came out simply.
In the world where my brother is worthless, human lives are not the measure of human value. In such a world, you need a reason to be valuable. Only those who meet whatever criteria, get to be worthy, and the rest is considered “Cost”, their fate is as seen in human history…
What this indicates is that those who are considered unproductive actually are showing pathways to the world where everybody can be worthy.
They make this world safer, more open, more stable, stronger, and ultimately contribute to the economy as well.
As a matter of fact, there are many researches that show companies’ productivity rising after increasing the employment of people with disability.
My brother and others like him live in this world with a lot of difficulty to lead the world to a better place.
Their worth is beyond the word productivity……… and when I see him purely enjoying his life, it makes me realize that life is beautiful.
————————————————————————————————————-That’s my story.
Thank you for giving me an opportunity to spread the message.
Naoki Hamanaka
