Honestly, I don’t find it strange,…
Instead I see it as a mirror of today’s time… that people today are paying not for advice or fun, but simply for presence.
Many a times I feel, it is the social isolation the biggest silent pandemic. Today we have technology, comfort, video calls, yet our hearts are starving for real connections.
This reminds me of an elderly patient telling me during lockdown,
“डॉक्टर साहिबा, अब तो आदत पड़ गई है ख़ुद से बातें करने की… फ़ोन में लोग बहुत हैं, पर सुनने वाला कोई नहीं।”
Her words pierced me…she did not look for advice, instead just wanted someone to sit besides her.
Another young professional said,
“I don’t need you to talk… just let me sit quietly here. Your silence feels safer than my office or even home.”
Isn’t this exactly what Morimoto is offering?
I think most people today don’t need solutions, what they need is safe company, an absolute non-judgmental, pressure-free presence.
“संगति ही संस्कार बनाती है।”
When we lack true company, loneliness eats us like slow poison, and then we try to fill it with scrolling, binge-watching or even renting strangers.
But still there’s hope…that if one man in Tokyo can heal thousands just by “doing nothing,” imagine what we all can do by simply listening, smiling, or offering our time.
Sometimes, the greatest medicine is not words, but presence.