Message from Chairman

“Birds of a feather flock together”

I would like to begin with a short preamble.

Most know what it is like in having to let go of a treasured friendship for the reason of not getting along with them anymore. Perhaps, you may have ended a relationship because of a new found incompatibility. In fact, a friend of mine who experienced the suffering of divorce recently re-married; although the marriage was with another individual, the new relationship faced similar problems.

Such things happen, precisely because of the saying: “Birds of a feather flock together”. It is not that the problem lies within your friends or your marriage partner; for no matter how many times you divorce and remarry, you are the one selecting who you surround yourself with. Metaphorically, the “feather” remains the same. It is no surprise that one may repetitively suffer from the same problems.

That is why, unless you change your “feather”, the “birds of the flock” will not change. Unless you change, the nature of those who you surround yourself with will remain similar. You will forever repeat the same mistakes and suffer from the same problems.

Some people insist on changing others before themselves. They may hold an attitude such that they are not the cause of such problems but others are. Under this view, would nobody take their own responsibility for the outcome?

We, RBA International, through our activities demonstrate that we are totally against such stream of behaviours. Our activities do not seek our responsibilities from others and we deny that results are attributable to other people. Instead, our movements lie in the posture of “Self-reproach”, meaning that one acts on their own responsibility.

RBA International have progressed another year with a mindset of changing ourselves for the better because we believe that without changing ourselves, we cannot live the lives we dream of living. We were able to progress another year because there were people who emphasized with our “Self-reproach” belief and cordially supported our activities.

Therefore, to continue the activity of “Self-reproach” becomes the objective of our movement. We shall continue with our activities over the coming year, too, to expand the solidarity of good intentions; to change ourselves for the better… To leave an earth which is a better place to live for the generation 300 years from now…

January 2011

Specified Nonprofit Corporation RBA International

Nobuhiro Kume, Chairman