Proverbs aren't always the cheeriest of things, but this week's proverb, "the darkest hour is just before dawn," is a shining light in the gloom.
The proverb's message is so positive and encouraging — this idea that if you're in a difficult situation with little hope, something good is definitely waiting just over the horizon.
And it seems to be true, at least so I've heard. I have heard mountain climbers say the hardest time for them is just before they reach the top. I have also heard students saying the hardest time for them was just before they finished a big project, like a dissertation or a thesis (often they'll have professors telling them things like "a good dissertation is a finished dissertation" and making them feel worse).
Recently I met Mizuki Tsujimura, a young female author who has written dozens of books since she won the Mephisto Prize for her novel "Tsumetai Kosha No Toki Wa Tomaru" ("Time Stops in a Cold Schoolhouse") in 2004. She shared with me her experiences and her feelings leading up to her winning that prize. As she talked, she used the proverb "the darkest hour is just before dawn."
Let me explain:
After Mizuki graduated from college, she set herself a limit of three years to finish the mystery/fantasy piece (her first) that she had been working on since she was a teenager. She worked on it diligently, but deep inside she was tormented with doubt. "Will I ever become a writer?" she wondered. "And if I fail as a writer, I won't be able to do anything else because all I've been doing is writing."
Despite her fears, she kept on working. She told me: "I broke down in tears when I received the phone call that I had won that prize. And just like they say the darkest hour is just before dawn, those final years before I won that prize were the toughest years for me."
So if you feel like this is your darkest hour, you should have hope. The really hopeless people are the people like me, who whine, "Why is my life so light? Why am I not suffering enough? Come on, people, where's my darkest hour? Bring it on. I don't have all the time in the world."
Q1 What does "dawn" express in this proverb?
A1) light.
A2) landscape.
A3) Something good.
正解： A3) Something good.
Q2 Author Mizuki Tsujimura told Kana that her "darkest hour just before dawn" was:
A1) Before she graduated from high school.
A2) When she was working on her thesis.
A3) When she was working on her first novel
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