Nationality: Japanese
Age: 19
Country that I am living in: Japan
Marital status: single

After hearing the recent events I must say that shocking is a very mild way to describe the turn of events & though I’ve never met either of the people in the incident, both of them once lived & had the same goals in life as I do here in Japan. The thought of that was very disheartening to say the least. To me it was a saddening event that showed me all that comes from anger, bitterness & hate is nothing but sorrow & destruction. In this case death, and for what? No matter what his intentions were, there is no excuse to take a life. What I continue to puzzle about is why people would continue the bitterness & hate this event has brought. I would think that this sad event would speak for itself and show that bitterness & hate brings nothing right & just wastes so much, including time which is very important in my opinion.

I’ve been born & raised in the Family. Throughout my life I’ve lived in many different places & experienced & accomplished many different things that no young person my age in Japan would ever get to do in their lifetime. I am very thankful & happy for the way I was raised & didn’t find it unpleasant in any way & enjoyed my upbringing very much. I’ve also been to public school & experienced life as a normal Japanese teen, which I found to be rather dull & uneventful. But most of all I found that most teens my age didn’t have a future, no vision, no goals, nothing to challenge their lives. Most of them just seem to go along with life without any real meaning in it. I find that helping others, especially people my age, find something that’s worth living for is definitely worth spending my life & time on. I pray that all of you, especially any of you I know & consider my friends, that are looking or have found your place in life will live it to the best of your ability. You may never know what can happen. May God bless you all.

Makoto Mori is a second-generation member of the Family International.