機知か驕か

モイ(飼猫)が冷蔵庫の上に登るようになった。興奮気味に勇ましく見下ろしてくる瞳を見て私は思い出す。中学の時の教頭(あだ名はチョコボール)が屋上に登っていくヤンキーを見ながら言った「ほら見てみ。アホと煙は上に上がるんやで」という言葉を。ふと、彼らは今でも何処かに登っているんだろうかと考えた。
いや、でもこの言葉の本来の意味は、おだてられてのぼせ上がるような馬鹿は地位や名誉を求めて馬鹿な役職に上がっていくという意味だった筈だ。
そう考えればこの言葉を言った教頭という役職こそなかなかにお上りで、わかって自戒も込めて言っていたのか、本当に目の前の風景だけを見て言っていたのか、今ではもう測りかねる。だが、どちらにせよコントラストの効いた良い言葉だと、『夜露死苦』と言わんばかりの瞳を見かえして思った。

Moi (my cat) started climbing on top of the refrigerator. Seeing his eyes looking down at me excitedly and bravely, I remember. The vice principal of my junior high school (his nickname was Choco Ball) said to me as he watched the  juvenile delinquent climbing up to the rooftop, "Look, look. Look at them. Idiots and smoke go up." I suddenly wondered if they are still climbing up somewhere.
No, but the original meaning of the phrase must have been that idiots who get carried away by flattery climb up to stupid positions in pursuit of status and honor.
Considering this, the position of vice principal who said these words was quite a high position, and now I can no longer tell whether he was saying them knowingly and with a sense of self-discipline, or whether he was really saying them only because of the phenomenon. But either way, I thought it was a good word with a good contrast when I looked back into his eyes as if he were saying,"Come on!"