THE TALE

OF THE

CHERRY BLOSSOM PARK

It was August 1st of 2007. A drizzly Wednesday down in Okinawa, Japan. A young man named Iku is sitting in front of his computer, typing. Apparently updating his status message in an online social networking site, TheFacebook.com.

“Life has no meaning.” is typed in the box. He was contemplating on whether to press the share button or not. But he did end up closing his eyes and while letting out a sigh, press the left button of his computer mouse.

Not a minute long after he updated his status, two other people liked it. Five minutes has passed and five people already started to make a chat box out of the comment section of his status. Three of them are unknowns to Iku.

Twenty-four hours passed since Iku last updated his status message. He came back from his daily routined life and went to check his TheFacebook account. He was surprised to find 99 notifications- the maximum number of notifications an account can get before it stops counting further notifications.

The empathetic comments and overwhelming number of likes of his status stirred up something deep inside Iku.

He typed, “Hey guys! Wanna meet up and do something really cool this weekend?”

One of the female contacts of his commented “Sure! Wazzup!”. Another contact suggested, “Hey! Cherry Blossom Park is going to be emptied this weekend, cherry blossom already withered for coming Summer, wanna hangout there, what do you think?”

Iku replied “Sounds cool man, see you there everyone, 12nn is going to be hot.”

Saturday 11am, Iku arrived at the Cherry Blossom Park and chose to sit on a bench overlooking the lake. It was glistening right before him. “Too bad it won’t be long before I won’t be able to appreciate all its thousand diamond-like glitters.” he thought to himself.

“Hi, are you Iku?” a voice came from behind him.

“Yeah, I am. What’s your name?” answered Iku.

“It’s Sakura. Can I sit beside you while waiting for the others?”

“Sure, but to tell you honestly, I’m not really expecting for anyone to arrive a---” Iku was cut mid sentence by a tap on his shoulders.

“My name is Moko.”

One by one people arrived to Iku’s surprised. He did not expect everyone to take the online invitation seriously.

After a few pleasantries with the other guests in the gathering, Iku stood up on the bench and shouted on top of his voice, “I think everyone is here. It’s already two minutes before three pm. I never expected to meet everyone, nonetheless for anyone to come at all. I’m not really sure if it is appropriate to say that I am glad to meet everyone here, but I do believe that your presence here implies that you are all willing and ready. Let’s get started then….”

Saturday, 6pm, time for the television news. A woman in her late forties opened her television while she is ironing an Okinawa High school uniform. She slightly lost her focused from her ironing when she heard the reporter in the television announced the headline “ 20 Japanese Men and Women Found Dead”.

“Iku!” she shouted. “Watch this news son! Some crazy kids drowned themselves down at the p—”

She broke down in tears not finishing her sentence when she heard in the news that through preliminary investigation, evidence pointed out that a young man named Iku Morasato masterminded the said mass suicide at the lake of Cherry Blossom Park.”

“It has been said the average person influences 10,000 people in their lifetime. But doctors and health care workers are not average.”

- http://www.leadershipclub.cn/articles/leadership-influence.php

A lot charismatic leaders especially those involved in religion were able to influence their members to commit suicide with them.

POINTS TO PONDER UPON Even leaders do get stressed. Facebook is not the only choice if you want to

release stress. Be accountable and get accountability

partners who you can trust.

POINTS TO PONDER No man is an island, even leaders feel down

sometimes that’s why they need people who can encourage them.

Life is not easy, it will eat you alive if you are on your own.

Do not misuse the technology and other resources around you because it could backfire against you.

Like it or not you are an influence to someone, it is your responsibility what you influence people with.

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS1. As a person that possesses influence to

other people’s lives, what do you think are your responsibilities?

2. As you read in the story, the internet can be a powerful tool, what do you think are the responsibilities of the main character as someone who have access to such a tool?

3. Instead of writing a reflection for the story, make an alternative ending for the story. How would you want it to turn out and what principle is the basis of your ending?