【１】他の痛みは自分と「関係ない」という心は、逆に、自分の痛みは痛がって、それを友や、親や、先生や、社会など、他の責任にして八つあたりする心と、共存しているような気がします。【２】同じことでも、解釈によって、自分の心を励ますこととできるのに、いつも、悪く悪く解釈して、逆うらみや、ねたみや、敵意でこわばってしまうのでは、自分で自分の人間としての成長をはばんでいるようなものです。【３】「それで、あなたは幸福ですか。」そういう声が聞こえます。「人のために何かする」という「何か」は、もとより「よいこと、役に立つこと」「よろこびとなること」をさしています。【４】どんな人の心の中にも、「人をよろこばせて自分もよろこぶ」人間らしいうれしい心があります。これは、「そんな気持ち、ちっともないよ。」なんて、悪ぶっていばってもだめです。【５】必ず、自分の気づかない心の底に、宝物のように輝く美しい心が横たわっています。
　（中略）
　【６】もし、まだそんな気持ちを味わったことがないとお思いなら、ぜひ、自分の中に眠っている、すこし鈍感で怠け者の宝ごころを掘り起こしてください。揺りさましてください。【７】「あ、こんな気持ちがあったのか。」「ちょっとうれしいなあ。」
　お金もほしい。物もほしい。異性の関心もほしい。親の庇護や、先生の真心もほしい。【８】けれど、そういうものより、何より、もっともっとうれしいのが、この「自分発掘の幸福感」、いいかえてみると、「自分の悪意とたたかって、自分を優しく気持ちのいい存在にきたえてゆくうれしさ」だと思います。
　【９】でも、この人間だけが味わえる、本能以上のよろこびは、不断の努力のあげくに、ふっと感じられるもの。このわずかな瞬間の、深い感動が味わいたくて、人は自分を訓練するのでしょう。【０】

　（岡部伊都子の文章による）

Masumi Kuwata, a pitcher for the Tokyo Giants, thought that women ate like birds. He didn't know that his mother and sister ate so little to save food for him and his younger brother. His family was poor, but he was loved by his grandmother, mother and sister. His father was not exactly a model father. He liked to drink, smoke, gamble, and even fight sometimes. But he had a love of baseball and worked very hard to make his first son, Masumi, a great baseball player.
"When I was in the fourth grade, my father bought me a glove as he promised, but it was a softball glove," Kuwata said. He was a little sad. But there was another surprise. "I was still happy just getting a glove, and I came running back home from school the next day. Then I found that my father pulled all the soft cotton out of the glove." Why? "Because in that way my father could hear the sound of the ball and find out that I was catching the ball rightly." Batting practice was the same. Kuwata's father threw the ball to him. If Kuwata didn't hit the ball, his father didn't catch it. Kuwata had to run after the ball again and again. Pitching practice was much good. Kuwata had to throw the ball to the right spot that his father showed. If not, his father didn't catch the ball and again Kuwata had to run and pick up the ball. "My father let it pass, if I missed by half an inch. Of course I got mad at him and wanted to throw the ball at his head," Kuwata said.
By the time Kuwata was in junior high school he had passed his father in baseball skills. "Now my father had to run around following the ball quickly to catch."
The Giants chose Kuwata as their number one draft pick in 1985, and nine years later he has become one of the best pitchers in Japanese baseball.
When he was 17 and visiting Tokyo he walked into a famous boutique named Versace. The shop was filled with fancy clothes, and he could feel that they were very expensive. He thought, "Well if I become rich and famous, I'll be back." Two years later Kuwata went back there with 100,000 in his pocket. He was sure that he could buy some expensive clothes this time. He picked three shirts and went to the cashier. She said, "That will be 840,000 please." Kuwata turned pale. "I thought each shirt cost 28,000. Even that was expensive for a rookie. I couldn't imagine that there was a shirt that cost 280,000 anywhere in the world. I found that I missed a zero," Kuwata said with a laugh.
Since then he has decided that when he wins an important game or reaches a certain goal, he will give himself a present by shopping at the boutique. He went back to Versace a few times in 1994. Once was when he recorded his 100th win, and another time was when the Giants won the Japan Series.