The pallet stopped halfway at mid-night in the multi-storey parking lot! A story about being encouraged by my past self

One rainy night around 11pm, I came home after overtime and was putting my car into muti-storey parking lot in my apartment. The pallet rose as usual but suddenly stopped at around 50 cm height.

It didn’t work any more, I could not raise nor lower. The operation button didn’t respond. The car put in the pallet above mine was not fully backed therefore the front grill interfered the infrared sensor of security check and the whole system was locked.

When I called the emergency contact, somebody answered immediately. According to him, in 30 minutes, the workers would come, so please open the security gate of the parking for them to get in, as soon as repair work is finished, you can park your car in the pallet.

When everything was finished, it was well past mid-night. In fact, I could not forget about this incident and was thinking for a long time.

I had not had dinner yet, and was exhausted by overtime. By somebody else’s fault, I had to attend the repair work in the rain until past midnight. I was so disappointed, even angry. My attitude to the workers who rushed to arrive, was not really good, was kind of rude, though all this was not their fault.

Three years have passed since then, one day when I tried to take out my car from the multi-storey parking lot, the pallet didn’t raise at all. This time, it was due to a defect of an electrical component.

Suddenly I remembered a book called “Manga : How do you live?” (written by Genzaburo Yoshino) , that I borrowed from a library and then bought it to keep at hand. (There is no English translation as of May 2020. However if you study Japanese, this book is recommended as it is written in simple Japanese for young students).

This is a story about a junior high-school student who has lost his father recently is growing up, guided by his uncle who has moved to the neighborhood.

What I remembered is the scene that his mother talked about her experience in her young age to him, who regret to betray his friends.

An old woman carrying a heavy luggage walks painfully on the long stone steps leading to the shrine. “May I carry your luggage?” she tried to ask the old woman, but she couldn’t, being afraid if the old woman would say “why didn’t you say that sooner?”. She let the old woman go without saying anything. “I could not forget myself not able to speak to the old lady, for a long time” said his mother.

Her son asked, “do you feel bad not able to forget about it?”, his mother answered, “no, not at all. I even would like to thank my past self. She pushed me forward every time I feel right thoughts and beautiful ideas. She encourages me, ‘This is the time you do it’ “.

I think one of the workers who came to repair the pallet this time was the same person who came last time. Did he remember me? At rainy midnight, with sulky face, I even didn’t say “thank you” to him clearly. But it was so nice to meet him again today. My past self pushed me firmly forward, encouraging “Express your appreciation to them. This is the time you do it!”.

It was sunny afternoon, I could see smiles of the workers. I still have plenty of time. Get out the car and go get groceries for the weekend!