Whitewash!

The school I teach at is Buddhist and each month the religious studies department chooses a message to be put up in every classroom. It's called 今月の言葉. This month's message runs as follows:

人の幸せをよろこぶ人は
幸せである

人 - hito = person/people
幸せ- shiawase = happiness, joy
よろこぶ - yorokobu = to be pleased, to be delighted

So literally this means "People who are pleased at the happiness of people have happiness". Literal translations make hard reading though. More naturally we might say:

Happiness is sharing in another person's joy.

Not exactly a deep message but because of the simple vocabulary it is very easy to understand and remember. Which is why in a whimsical mood last night I recited it to my girlfriend and asked her what she thought of it. She didn't like it. "People are not so pure and simple," she said. "I hate 奇麗事."

きれいごと. Here was a word I didn't know. So I looked it up.

奇麗　(kirei - "clean","tidy") ＋　事　(koto - "stuff") ＝
奇麗事 - kireigoto = whitewashing, saying the expected, avoiding complications, glossing over etc...

She has a point. That message does have a note of the Hallmark about it. I like that word though 奇麗事. Here's an example from my dictionary:

きれいごとだけで世の中を渡ることはできない。

世の中 - yo no naka = the world, life
渡る - wataru = cross

You can't get through life trying to keep everyone happy.

Or more simply "You can't make an omlette without breaking eggs".