When you live in a big city with very tall buildings and millions of people, you find yourself focused on the immediate area around you, navigating the ocean of people, avoiding the cars and bike zipping by and keeping close watch on any impending danger that you forget to look up. I remember that we could always tell if someone was a tourist in New York because they looked up!
What is it that really looks out of the eyes of children? Do we know what we are dismissing when tell a child to just run along as they ask us some difficult questions? What is asking those questions? Aren’t children carrying the beacon of the future? If we dismiss them, aren’t we gambling with the future? They see how big we are, how seemingly more knowledgable we appear, how much more experience we have and they assume that we have the answers. Then we go on to avoid the answers, give wrong ones or simply send them away rejected and with that breaking that line of trust they were willing to extend to us. Wouldn’t it be much better to admit that we don’t know either and to work it out together with the young humans? I wonder…
photo taken: little girl in the mountain village of Tashkurgan~ Xinjiang
A symphony of symmetry, esoteric symbolism, mysterious architectural concepts, the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, one of the tallest churches in the world, and most of all, a beauty to behold, this is Cologne Cathedral. An unplanned visit, guided by a charming and enthusiastic lady, this was certainly the highlight of this day.
So much mystery in the world to be in awe of, to dream about, to get lost inside of…
It is quite amazing being around teenagers and observing how they live their lives. It is as if they live in a world that is inside a bubble, a bubble that is quite misty and full of phantasy. In that bubble they seem to only see what is very close to them, what is in their immediate environment and what affects them directly. The rest of the world is a field where they can roll around and giggle. There is a joy and a love of life and a lot of living in the moment. Being around teenagers every day this last week, I could see that the best way to be with them is to observe, offer advice only when asked and to try and join in their effervescence, to jump into the mist! Of course this is easily done when they are not your own children 🙂
photo: The beautiful Sasha with a blue umbrella in a cloud of steam on a Shanghai street.
I came back from my travels to find Lea with two major and pretty major “ouchies” on her leg. We have had to cancel swimming, sports, long baths, sand playground time and other weekly activities. These are the things that may leave a mark and be part of the stories we tell as we grow up pointing to our little scars. Don’t you have scars that always draw out a story of a childhood adventure from you to tell again and again? These are the visible “ouchies” resulting from play that I pray will be the only kind that scar children’s childhoods. It is the mental, emotional and invisible scars that scare me so much more.