C.S. Lewis possibly said it best, “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.”
In the book Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery he tells the story of a young prince who has had some bad luck. He falls from his star in the sky. He falls from the sky and lands in the middle of the desert. While there he meets up with another fella who likewise has had some misfortune. He meets up with a pilot whose plane has gone down. The pilot is very depressed and the Little Prince endeavors to change that feeling for the pilot. The Prince is able to rouse what has been dormant in the pilot helping him to appreciate many of life's mysteries through the eyes of a child.
Time passes for both of them and it is now time for the Little Prince to leave his newly made friend. The pilot is sad and does not want the Prince to leave. It is a sad time for the both of them. The Prince says to the pilot, “When it is time for me to leave I’ll look as if I am dead but that won’t be true.”
Then he leaves the pilot with these words of comfort, “when you are sad that I am gone, and when you’re consoled, everyone eventually is consoled, you’ll be glad you’ve known me.”
The last five lines from the poem “Remember” (Christian Rossetti) reads
For if the darkness and corruption leave
A vestige of the thoughts that once I had,
Better by far you should forget and smile
Than that you should remember and be sad.
“I’m sure glad I’ve known him.”
June 1, 2015
Keep on,
Larry Adamson