Suck It Up Buttercup
Suck It Up Buttercup
One first heard this term from a loud-mouth obese American who came to “open up Japan.”
By the way, the term “open up Japan” arrived along with Commodore Perry and his heavily armed Black ship armada sailing into Edo Bay in 1853.
This led to the establishment of forced diplomatic relations between Japan and the western Great Powers ending the 264 years of Isolationism 1.0.
This is what is know as gun boat diplomacy, and this subjugation protocol continues to subvert diverse cultures globally today.
Here the delusion of exceptionalism swallows the beauty of diversity while spewing a dystopian monotone world void of heart, spirit, and soul.
Truly, most Japanese distain those who come to Japan with the arrogance embodied within the demeaning and derogatory phrase “open up Japan.”
In fact, the boisterous blob of the greedy American was doomed to fail from the very beginning.
Indeed, most Americans are failures when coming to “open up Japan,” particularly the plethora of greedy narcissists who are also charlatans.
So what exactly does “suck it up buttercup” mean?
Actually, buttercups are beautiful flowers embodying the meaning of growth, youthfulness, good health, and attraction.
Like all things, language evolves and de-evolves over time—reflecting the state of one’s own society and the mentality within.
The beautiful buttercup is now a derogatory term insulting weakness and frailty.
How miserable things of beauty such as the beloved buttercup are stolen from the original meaning and turned into something ugly, negative, and destructive.
“Suck it up” mean to have fortitude and perseverance—which inherently are noble traits.
Here lies the fork in the road—the conceptual parting of way between the global lingua franca English—and its conceptual opposite—Nihongo.
Perseverance, fortitude, resilience, tenacity, patience and other such noble traits are already embodied in the culture of Japan and carry significant weight as contained within the ideograms of the Japanese.
Like many things related to ancient language of the Japanese—they say much with little—an exemplary virtue for certain.
Innate traits such as patience and perseverance are not necessary to verbalize in Japanese, as they reside in the ambient atmosphere inside the esoteric language of the Japan.
For certain, during these extraordinary times, the wheat will be separated from the chaff.
For the resilient and committed, it will take Japanese style perseverance and endurance to create the new paradigms of humanity as the third pillar of civilization—Japan.
Indeed, the concepts necessary to build the third pillar of civilization dwells within the spirit of the Japanese and their language.
Here are some Japanese concepts to drive one past the pain, suffering, and sorrow of one personal history, surviving this volatile world, and flourishing as the resilient build communities creating a wholistic inclusive vision for humanity.
(1) wazawai wo tenjite fuku to nasu
災いを転じて福となす
わざわいてんじてふくとなす
Turning misfortune into fortune
(2) shinbo
辛抱
しんぼう
patience – perseverance – endurance
＊近頃の若い者は辛抱が足らぬ
ちかごろわかいものしんぼうたらぬ
Young people these days lack patience [perseverance].
(3) nintai
忍耐
にんたい
patience – endurance – tolerance
＊忍耐と寛容をもって
にんたいとかんようをもって
With patience and tolerance.
(4) konki
根気
こんき
vigour – endurance – vitality – energy
＊この仕事には大変な根気がいる
このしごとにはたいへんなこんきがいる
This work takes a lot of patience.
(5) kanin
堪忍
かんにん
tenacity, persistence; perseverance ; energy vitality
＊堪忍袋の緒がついに切れた
かにんぶくろのしょがついにきれる
My patience has snapped [has run out].
(6) gaman
我慢
がまん
endurance – resilience – tolerate –
＊ 彼が話し終わるまで我慢して聞いていなさい
かれがはなしおわるまでがまんしてきいていなさい
Be patient with him until he finishes talking.
There is no time like the present to internalize the Japanese protocol of perseverance, endurance, and turn one’s own misfortune into fortune each and every day.
