The Young Men’s Association held its Arakitoryo Nurturing Seminar on November 27 at the Home of the Parent, drawing 240 participants from directly supervised chapters including chairmen and other leading members in charge of their chapters’ nurturing activities. The seminar aimed at promoting nurturing activities in directly supervised chapters and raising the association members’ awareness about providing care and guidance for the young.
The seminar opened with an address by Association Vice Chairman Masaharu Matsuda, who emphasized the need to increase awareness about nurturing the young. “Those of us who are in leadership roles should take the hands of younger members and beginners on the path and encourage them to walk the path together with us so that our association may be blessed with having more and more members serve as Arakitoryo with pride in being pioneers of the path,” he said.
Following the opening address, Honbu-in Itaro Nishida gave a lecture entitled “Let Pioneers of the Path Nurture the Next Generation.” Sharing some of his personal experiences, he said, “Those who are in a position to nurture the young should make every effort to convey the teachings to them in a way that they can understand.” He went on to say: “Please nurture the young from a long-term perspective. Do not let them slip out of your mind. Unless you proactively take part in their growing processes, they will not become connected to the path.” He concluded his lecture by saying, “I very much hope that you will strive to become attractive people with conviction of faith and work with many young people.”
A video was then presented, showing how “Seminars for New Association Members” were conducted this year in four directly supervised chapters: Takaoka, Sakurai, Takayasu, and Yamana. Such seminars for new members, who completed their membership in the Boys and Girls Association and have now entered the Young Men’s Association, started five years ago in an effort to facilitate new members’ entry to the association.
Association Nurturing Section Chief Michiteru Suzuki provided further explanation of the seminars and asked the participants to make a positive effort to hold these seminars, saying, “In order to be blessed with future association leaders, I hope all of you will set out a vision for nurturing the younger generation early on.”