Even if the life I have experienced is brilliant and colorful, I am still alone in the end.
There is a (not original) view in American Gods that "the existence and power of God depends on the faith of the people" and that when God is not believed by humans, it disappears.
By contrast, because our lives are lonely, the proof of our existence or existence is to share a part of ourselves to achieve others, and sharing here we can understand as offspring— because children are direct proof of our existence; or sacrifice — the lower level is to help, to give sincerity, to spread love; the highest level is the sacrifice of life.
In real life, the high-level can be to see the righteous and brave, to sacrifice for the country; in "Galactic Railway Night", it is natural that [Kobenella] died to save people.
The "life" of the saved was paid for the departure of [Kobenella], and thus [Kobenella] had proof of existence.
Kenji Miyazawa emphasized this spirit of sacrifice in "Night of the Galactic Railway" by borrowing the story of the scorpion sacrificing himself, and the teacher and brother did not forcibly squeeze into the lifeboat of the Titanic to emphasize this spirit of sacrifice, and this extreme dedication is supposed to be the sharing and dedication that Kenji Miyazawa once insisted on.
"Once upon a time, in the wilderness of Valdora, there was a small scorpion that lived by preying on small insects.
One day, it bumped into a weasel and was almost eaten. The little scorpion desperately fled, but he could not run the weasel, and he was about to be caught, when a well suddenly appeared in front of him, and the little scorpion fell into it, and could not climb up no matter what.
At the critical moment when it was about to drown, it prayed to heaven: 'Ah, I have swallowed so much life so far, so that today I will be hunted by weasels, and although I try to escape, I will finally be eaten.'
Ah, there is really no hope of salvation. So I decided to obediently dedicate my body to the weasel, and if it ate me, it would live one more day.
God, please discern my desire not to let my death be worthless. Please use my body to make other lives happy! No sooner had he finished praying than the little scorpion saw his body burning with crimson flames, illuminating the dark night.
Dad said that the fire has not been extinguished! That flame was the fire of the Scorpion. ”
(Omitting a paragraph)
Giovanni sighed and said, "Camparila, this time it's just the two of us again." Wherever we go, we have to walk side by side. I want to learn from that little scorpion, as long as everyone can get real happiness, even if the body is bathed in fire a hundred times, it will not hesitate. ”
The crimson and beautiful scorpion fire, like the scorpion fire that will never be extinguished, burned silently, flashing red light, illuminating the universe.
Notice that the scorpion here is also drowned — it's related to water.
But is this extreme "sacrifice" "right"?
Kenji Miyazawa apparently did not preach this idea in The Night of the Galactic Railway, and he emphasized the love and respect for life by borrowing the details of "Joe Benny" and "Kobenella" receiving an apple respectively.
Giovanni and Camparella solemnly hid the apple in their pockets.
In addition to the "wisdom"—the one that Eve and Adam ate—the one that The Apple symbolizes is life and sharing. When we cut the apple vertically, the facet that appears is like a woman's vagina, which can also be extended to the womb, which is the place where new life is born.
The cover of Hisaishi's music album "Galactic Railway Night" is a transparent apple, in which the Galactic train is like a satellite orbiting inside the apple, which is the reincarnation of life - the alternation of life and death.
Hisaishi Jean's musical work "Galactic Railway Night"
If you've seen Kunihiko Kihara's "Turning Penguin Jar," you might think of the "apple" that represents life.
If you think about it, this animation that is also about life and death has a lot of "Galactic Railway Night" color.
In the play, Takakura Crown Leaf "sacrificed" himself on the transfer train of fate, and was the scene at that time similar to the "Scorpion Fire" in "Night of the Galactic Railway"?
In fact, Kenji Miyazawa used the dialogue between "Joe Benny" and "Kobenera" to propose the concept of "happiness".
We can understand it as "happiness because you help others".
However, this [happiness] is obviously different from person to person —
"But what is true happiness?" [Joe Benny] asked.
"I don't know, I don't know." [Kobenella] answered blankly.
Not knowing, uncertain, full of unknowns (impermanence), this is not only the background of the story of "Galactic Railway Night" - the characteristics of the universe, but also the characteristics of life.
When it comes to not knowing the way forward for the future, you need a beacon.
In "Galactic Railway Night", it is actually the lighthouse guard who is cognate with the lighthouse to give his own statement -
"What true happiness is, no one in the world knows. But as long as you stick to the right path, no matter how difficult and painful things you encounter on the way, whether you climb a mountain or climb a steep slope, you can get closer to happiness step by step. The lighthouse guard said with relief.
"Well, in order to reach the end of true happiness, all kinds of suffering and sorrow encountered on the way are deliberately arranged by God." The young man replied reverently.
The combination of these two paragraphs means that climbing a mountain means that [Joe Benny] climbs the hillside and boards the Milky Way train, and climbing down a steep slope means that [Joe Benny] personally experiences the journey of the Star Sea, and after saying goodbye to [Kobenela], walking home.
"All kinds of suffering and sorrow encountered on the way" are all for the sake of being able to [reach the end of true happiness] in the future.
Happiness here, for [Joe Benny], is to bring milk and the news of his father's return to his mother, and what awaits them may be a warm family life; for Kenji Miyazawa, one of them must be to create his own literary works— although the final price is to "burn his own life in exchange for a light that can illuminate the world."
For all readers and viewers, happiness is like a statement given in The Myth of Sisyphus, in which everyone writes their own annotations (the so-called "meaning") of a lonely life.