The Girl I learnt a lot From
I love to talk to Children. Firstly, the kind of innocence they exude is lovely. Secondly they appear to be the only kind of people who seem to enjoy life in all its simple beauty. Thirdly it is from them that we can see life with fresh, unprejudiced and consequently truthful eyes.
Recently, I was visiting one of my friends and had an opportunity to talk to his 4 year old daughter. She was so cute. She took me to her playhouse and told me stories about her doll friends there. She gave me an opportunity to look at the simple setup of play house and to enjoy its beauteous different aspects in all its simplicity and sublimity.
Her 'stories' about her play house and her doll friends were all nascent ideas about 'relationships', 'good-evil', and the 'element of surprise'. Each doll there was a friend or was not a friend of another doll for whatever reason, but the point is that their existence as envisioned in the nascent mind was defined by Relationships. At first look it is something that appears pertty simple. But that a little girl should talk to me for a considerable time to about relationships between her doll friends goes a long way to emphasis the primacy of relationships even in the hearts of the ones who have hardly started understanding what life is all about. This is a classic example of the yearning for relationships even in very young hearts. It is wonderful to see how even the young hearts are 'programmed' to make relationships the way of life, imaginary or real.
The next thing she explained about her doll friends was to tell me about who all were good and who all were bad. Six of her doll girlfriends were good and two of her doll boyfriends were bad, she told me. Again though it seemed a naïve statement, it is profound in that even in the minds of there little ones there is a classification of what is good and bad which again goes a long way to substantiate that man has an innate an intutive ability in him, put in there by Someone, to differentiate good from evil. That is the way the young human heart is programed.
Her play house was so small. She was inside it with her doll friends tellling me stories about herd doll friends and I was just listening to her from the little door that could just fit my head into. She had a paper on which she had painted many little red hearts. She asked me to place the paper on top of the slanting roof. I did so. The she told me to close my eyes. I did so. Then she hit the roof from inside and the paper slid off the roof apparently swaying about in the air and landed on the floor behind me. She then told me to open my eyes. I did so. She asked me “Oh! Where is the painting?” I looked up. (Obviously, still I tried to look perplexed that it was not there) and then she said gleefully satisfied at my perplexity, “Hey… look behind you its there!!!”.
At the outset is looks pretty silly. But there is something sublime there. It is about the ‘element of surprise’ and wonder in life. As we grow older our jaded senses never seem to get surprised or never seem to wonder at the simple and sublime beauty of life’s elements. We never get surprised by the lightning, neither do we wonder at the rain. We never get surprised wildlife, neither do we wonder at the mountains. But for a little girl her sense of wonder is kindled even by something as simple as a picture swaying about in the air and a bloke (apparently) looking perplexed that the painting is missing.
As I was sitting there listening to the ideas flowing from her heart and mind wondering at her innocence, her ability to enjoy even the simple elemental aspects of life and her fresh look at life, I was analyzing the underpinning of each of her ideas and statements the conclusions and the beauty of which were itched onto my memory. I loved talking to the little girl. She was the girl I learnt a lot from.
Recently, I was visiting one of my friends and had an opportunity to talk to his 4 year old daughter. She was so cute. She took me to her playhouse and told me stories about her doll friends there. She gave me an opportunity to look at the simple setup of play house and to enjoy its beauteous different aspects in all its simplicity and sublimity.
Her 'stories' about her play house and her doll friends were all nascent ideas about 'relationships', 'good-evil', and the 'element of surprise'. Each doll there was a friend or was not a friend of another doll for whatever reason, but the point is that their existence as envisioned in the nascent mind was defined by Relationships. At first look it is something that appears pertty simple. But that a little girl should talk to me for a considerable time to about relationships between her doll friends goes a long way to emphasis the primacy of relationships even in the hearts of the ones who have hardly started understanding what life is all about. This is a classic example of the yearning for relationships even in very young hearts. It is wonderful to see how even the young hearts are 'programmed' to make relationships the way of life, imaginary or real.
The next thing she explained about her doll friends was to tell me about who all were good and who all were bad. Six of her doll girlfriends were good and two of her doll boyfriends were bad, she told me. Again though it seemed a naïve statement, it is profound in that even in the minds of there little ones there is a classification of what is good and bad which again goes a long way to substantiate that man has an innate an intutive ability in him, put in there by Someone, to differentiate good from evil. That is the way the young human heart is programed.
Her play house was so small. She was inside it with her doll friends tellling me stories about herd doll friends and I was just listening to her from the little door that could just fit my head into. She had a paper on which she had painted many little red hearts. She asked me to place the paper on top of the slanting roof. I did so. The she told me to close my eyes. I did so. Then she hit the roof from inside and the paper slid off the roof apparently swaying about in the air and landed on the floor behind me. She then told me to open my eyes. I did so. She asked me “Oh! Where is the painting?” I looked up. (Obviously, still I tried to look perplexed that it was not there) and then she said gleefully satisfied at my perplexity, “Hey… look behind you its there!!!”.
At the outset is looks pretty silly. But there is something sublime there. It is about the ‘element of surprise’ and wonder in life. As we grow older our jaded senses never seem to get surprised or never seem to wonder at the simple and sublime beauty of life’s elements. We never get surprised by the lightning, neither do we wonder at the rain. We never get surprised wildlife, neither do we wonder at the mountains. But for a little girl her sense of wonder is kindled even by something as simple as a picture swaying about in the air and a bloke (apparently) looking perplexed that the painting is missing.
As I was sitting there listening to the ideas flowing from her heart and mind wondering at her innocence, her ability to enjoy even the simple elemental aspects of life and her fresh look at life, I was analyzing the underpinning of each of her ideas and statements the conclusions and the beauty of which were itched onto my memory. I loved talking to the little girl. She was the girl I learnt a lot from.