# 正直になってよかったこと(11) 指サックという仕事の友　― 左手の親指にあった三十三年と、退職後に気づいたこと (英語版) ー　　A Finger Cot, My Companion at Work— Thirty-Three Years on My Left Thumb and What I Realized After Retirement —

When preparing for a trip and getting ready to move, unexpected things appear.

A green finger cot surfaced.

During my years as a teacher, it was both a close friend and a comrade-in-arms.
I always wore it on my left thumb to handle mountains of assignments and exams.

It did not slip easily.
Even when papers stuck together, I could turn them one by one.

For more than thirty-three years, it was simply there, as something natural.
It was my “companion at work.”

After retiring, I was surprised.
There is absolutely no occasion to use it anymore.

To be honest, it was a tool for those who battle paper.

I had never even realized that at the time.

Busyness exhausts the heart as well.
Perhaps it even stops us from thinking.

Now I find myself wondering what to do with the finger cot that suddenly reappeared.

Throw it away?
Keep it?

I feel a little sad that something so small makes me pause.

And yet, perhaps that is proof of how long we shared the same time.

#LifeAfterRetirement
#TeachingLife
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#ToolsOfWork
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