“The Road to Nowhere” (1998)
Modern life got you stressed out? It isn’t that way for everyone.
Here’s an unpublished essay from 1998.
And the topic got me thinking, ever since …
There was a fascinating front-page article in the Washington Post (“Island at a Crossroads,” 10/19/97).
It tells the story of an island off the coast of Japan that’s so remote, it’s home to a unique dialect of Japanese that dates back to the 8th century.
The island is Aoga Shima. Total population: 209.
Its area totals three square miles, and most of that is a huge volcanic crater, which gives the area a lush green, almost prehistoric feel.
It also gives the villagers their very own naturally-heated sauna. And true to its origin, the island is ringed on all sides by sheer cliffs of dried lava.
Life on Aoga Shima is, as you’d expect, quite different from that on the mainland. Observes one islander:
“People here help each other, and they talk to each other on the street — not like Tokyo.”
In spite of their great distance from anything, they do have basic modern amenities.
But the latest addition is downright strange: a traffic light and crosswalk, right on the very edge of the island. The crosswalk leads precisely to nowhere.
Seems the village elders reasoned that since youngsters regularly leave the island — if not lured by the excitement of the big city, then simply to attend high school (one of the amenities Aoga Shima lacks) — it’d be a wise idea to acquaint their children in this, one of the ways of civilization. So crossing the street is now an official part of the grade school curriculum.
The article goes on to describe life on the island (“bucolic” sums it up), and concludes with the observations of the village’s deputy administrator:
People on the island amuse themselves with fishing or gardening or playing volleyball in the school gym. Aoga Shima people don’t need a lot of entertaining — they just enjoy the natural beauty of the place.
Finally, he adds:
“Sometimes I just sit and do nothing, and think about nothing.”
It sounded a little like paradise.
But it got me thinking …
What would happen if we in the United States became a bit more like the folks on Aoga Shima?
What if we slowed things down a notch … set aside our TVs and other gadgets … and decided to simply enjoy each other’s company more, and the natural world? And take things a little easier from now on, without all the trappings?
It didn’t seem like a bad idea.
But then, I realized — if we did adopt their lifestyle — what might actually happen instead:
The Economy would collapse.
Text © 1998, 2025 Ron Diamond. All rights reserved.
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