Little Prince Comes To Life
Maybe and just maybe I underestimate the brain power of five year olds.
I spent Saturday lunch with this little guy. For the sake of this story and very public blog, let's call him George-Ringo. I have not seen him since Dec 2009. It did not stop him from being friendly and trusting when I brought him around while his mom was occupied in the mall.
George-Ringo brought me to the panels that you step onto before you actually get on the escalator. Then he asked me if there was a motor underneath the panels. I started telling him all I knew about the inner machinations of an escalator which took all of 8 seconds. It's a cute moment and all that but after thinking about it well after I left the little guy's company I was reminded of 'drawing No. 1' in the Little Prince. The first chapter I have reproduced below.
One of the themes I will always revisit is the eternal battle of substance over style. Function over form, Cake vs. Icing. Here is a guy who just turned 5 and already he is concerned with what lies underneath. Not solely accepting the surface. Not solely defining his experience by what's obvious. The exact opposite of the vain and the shallow people I love to satirize in this blog.
I just thought that mental process I observed was worth sharing.
Ed
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3 comments:
I love The Little Prince! One of my favorite books as a child.
Of course this book still resonates till now. I love to write about substance over style etc. What lies underneath. Thanks for reading .
Beautiful, and what a way to be hit with the realization. It's a skill, to view the world with the eyes of a child. And I do agree, there's so much you couldn't see when you just look at the surface. But I deviate from the message a bit because it's substance and style for me everytime. :-)
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