Thinking Out Loud ~ Dare To Take The Adventure

Free the Child Within

Beginning today I am reflecting on Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s work, The Little Prince. The Little Prince is a modern classic.

Saint-Exupéry in writes in The Little Prince, “I showed my masterpiece to the grown-ups and I asked them if my drawing frightened them.  They answered: “Why should anyone be frightened by a hat?” My drawing did not represent the hat. It represented a boa snake that digested an elephant. Then I drew the inside of a boa snake so that the grown-ups could understand. They always need explanations. The grown-ups advised me to put aside the drawings of open or closed boa snakes, and to become rather interested in geography, history, calculation, and grammar. That is how I gave up, at the age of 6, a magnificent career as a painter. I had been discouraged by the failure of my drawings . . . The grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and, for children, it’s tiresome always giving them some explanations.”

NOTE: How many of us have been discouraged by “grownups” when we were younger. They saw the world through their fearful eyes and not through the eyes of an adventurous youth. No matter your age, open the door to the child within and dare to go on the marvelous journey you always wanted to take.