知性と責任 ――母校の後輩が教えてくれたこと Intellect and Responsibility — What a Younger Alumnus of My High School Taught Me

 

知性と責任

――母校の後輩が教えてくれたこと

今日、福島テレビで放送された磐城高校創立130周年記念番組を見て、思わず嬉しくなりました。

私の母校、福島県立磐城高等学校。

その現役生徒会長である颯さんが、将来の希望として「地域医療を生業とする総合診療医」を目指していると語っていたのです。

おおっ！

母校の後輩が、私が長年取り組んできた地域医療、しかも総合診療に関心を持ってくれている！

それだけで、なんとも嬉しい気持ちになりました。

もちろん、高校生の将来は無限の可能性に満ちています。

これからさまざまな経験を重ね、興味や関心が変わることもあるでしょう。

医師になるかもしれないし、まったく別の道に進むかもしれません。

それはご本人が自由に選ぶことであり、どのような道を選んだとしても、素晴らしいことだと思います。

ですから、今回の希望が将来実現するかどうかは、私にとってそれほど重要ではありません。（正直 本音では超重要ですが．．．笑）

今この時点で、地域医療を自分の生業にしたいと思ってくれている。

そのこと自体が、地域医療を生業としてきた私には、たまらなく嬉しいのです。

そして、もう一つ。

私は颯さんが、なぜ総合診療医を志すようになったのか、とても興味があります。

何かきっかけになる出来事があったのでしょうか。

誰かとの出会いがあったのでしょうか。

それとも、地域で暮らす人々の姿を見つめる中で、自然に生まれてきた思いなのでしょうか。

いつか機会があれば、ぜひ聞いてみたいものです。

さて、今回、私がさらに強く心を動かされたのは、颯さんが創立130周年記念式典で語った言葉でした。

磐城高校の校是は「知性と責任」。

颯さんは、この言葉を次のように解釈していました。

知性とは正解がはっきりしない問いに向き合い、その意味を見出すことで、責任とは自分で選んだ結果を受け止め次の行動につなげることを指す。

さらに、受け継いだ精神を自分たちの時代にふさわしいよう更新し、新しい磐城高校の歴史をつくっていこうと呼びかけたそうです。

これを知って、私は驚きました。

この考え方、総合診療にものすごく向いているのではないか。

総合診療の現場には、正解が一つとは限らない問いがあふれています。

医学的に正しい治療が、その人の人生にとって最善とは限りません。

患者さんの希望、家族の思い、生活環境、地域の事情。

さまざまな価値観が交差する中で、何がその人にとって大切なのかを考え、選択し、その結果を引き受けながら次の一歩を探していく。

私たちは、そんな仕事をしています。

だからこそ、颯さんが語った「知性と責任」の解釈には、深く共感しました。

しかも、130年の伝統をただ守るのではなく、自分たちの時代にふさわしい形へと「更新する」という姿勢。

これもまた、総合診療に欠かせないものだと思います。

かしま病院でも、地域に必要な医療とは何かを考え続けてきました。

前例がないからできない、ではなく、必要ならば実現する方法を考える。

やってみて、うまくいかなければ修正する。

そんな試行錯誤を繰り返してきた結果が、現在のかしま病院であり、いとちプロジェクトにもつながっています。

振り返れば、私たちもまた、正解のない問いに向き合い、選択の結果を次の行動につなげてきたのかもしれません。

颯さんが将来どのような職業を選ぶかは、まだ誰にも分かりません。

そして、それでいいのです。

ただ、創立130周年という節目に、校是の意味を自分の言葉で捉え直し、次の時代につなごうとする姿勢を知って、私は一人の総合診療医として、強く感じました。

この人は、総合診療にとても大切な資質を持っているのではないか。

もちろん、短い発言だけで人の適性を決められるものではありません。

それでも、少なくともその言葉に表れた考え方は、私が長年大切にしてきた総合診療の精神と、驚くほど重なっていました。

将来、総合診療医になっても、ならなくても。

その知性と責任を胸に、ご自身の選んだ道を歩んでいってほしいと思います。

そして、もしどこかでお会いする機会があったなら、ぜひ聞いてみたい。

「どうして、地域医療を生業にしたいと思ったの？」

答えを聞くのが、今から楽しみです。

磐城高校、創立130周年おめでとうございます。

母校の後輩から、思いがけない喜びをいただきました。

130年の歴史を受け継ぐ若者が、これから何を選び、どんな未来をつくっていくのか。

その可能性そのものが、何より楽しみです。

Intellect and Responsibility

— What a Younger Alumnus of My High School Taught Me

Today, I watched a special television program on Fukushima TV celebrating the 130th anniversary of my alma mater, Fukushima Prefectural Iwaki High School.

And something I heard made me unexpectedly happy.

The current student council president, Hayate, spoke about his hopes for the future.

He said he wanted to become a general practitioner who makes community-based healthcare his life's work.

Wow!

A younger student from my old high school is interested in community medicine—and general practice, no less!

As someone who has devoted much of his professional life to community-based healthcare, I could hardly have been happier.

Of course, high school students have countless possibilities ahead of them.

As they gain new experiences, their interests and aspirations may change.

Hayate may become a doctor. He may choose an entirely different profession.

And that is absolutely fine.

Whatever path he eventually chooses should be his own decision, and I would wholeheartedly respect it.

Whether his current ambition ultimately becomes reality is not what matters most to me.

What makes me so happy is that, at this moment in his life, he sees community-based healthcare as something worth dedicating his working life to.

That alone means a great deal to someone who has spent his career doing precisely that.

And there is something else.

I would genuinely love to know why Hayate became interested in general practice.

Was there a particular experience that inspired him?

Did he meet someone who influenced his thinking?

Or did his interest grow naturally from observing the people and communities around him?

If I ever have the opportunity, I would very much like to ask him.

But what moved me even more was something he said at the school's 130th anniversary ceremony.

Iwaki High School has a longstanding motto:

“Intellect and Responsibility.”

In his address as the student representative, Hayate offered his own interpretation of these words.

He described intellect as the willingness to confront questions without clear answers and discover meaning within them.

Responsibility, he explained, means accepting the consequences of one's own choices and using them to guide what one does next.

He also encouraged his fellow students to reinterpret the spirit they had inherited in ways appropriate to their own generation, thereby creating a new chapter in the history of Iwaki High School.

When I read those words, I was genuinely astonished.

Isn't that remarkably close to the very essence of general practice?

In general practice, we constantly encounter questions that have no single correct answer.

A treatment that is medically appropriate is not necessarily the best choice for a particular person's life.

A patient's wishes may differ from those of their family.

What medicine can offer may not be what someone truly needs in their everyday life.

We work at the intersection of different values, personal circumstances, family relationships, and community realities.

Our task is to understand what matters most to each person, make thoughtful decisions together, accept the consequences, and continue searching for the next best step.

That is why Hayate's interpretation of “Intellect and Responsibility” resonated with me so deeply.

And there was another word in his speech that particularly impressed me:

Renew.

He was not simply calling on his fellow students to preserve a 130-year-old tradition unchanged.

He was encouraging them to carry its spirit forward by giving it new meaning for their own time.

I believe that this, too, is essential to general practice.

At Kashima Hospital, we have spent many years asking ourselves what kind of healthcare our community truly needs.

Rather than accepting that something cannot be done because there is no precedent, we try to find a way to make it possible.

We try something.

If it does not work, we reconsider.

Then we try again.

Through countless such efforts, Kashima Hospital has gradually become what it is today.

The Itochi Project, which seeks to build new relationships between healthcare and the wider community, is another expression of that continuing journey.

Looking back, perhaps we, too, have been confronting questions without clear answers, accepting the outcomes of our decisions, and allowing those experiences to shape our next actions.

I have no idea what profession Hayate will eventually choose.

And that is exactly as it should be.

But learning how he interpreted his school's motto at such an important anniversary made me feel something quite strongly, both as a former student of Iwaki High School and as a general practitioner.

Here is someone whose way of thinking seems wonderfully suited to the spirit of general practice.

Of course, we cannot judge a person's professional aptitude from a short speech.

Nevertheless, the values expressed in his words are strikingly close to those I have cherished throughout my career.

Whether he eventually becomes a general practitioner or chooses a completely different path, I hope he will continue to think deeply, make his own choices, and move forward with the same spirit of intellect and responsibility.

And if we ever happen to meet, there is one question I would love to ask:

“What first made you want to dedicate your life to community-based healthcare?”

I would be delighted to hear his answer.

Congratulations to Iwaki High School on its 130th anniversary!

A younger member of my school community has given me an unexpected moment of joy.

One hundred and thirty years of history—and a new generation ready to interpret that history in its own way.

Whatever paths these young people choose, and whatever futures they go on to create, the possibilities themselves are something worth celebrating.