It’s the week of Valentine’s Day 💘
Despite the fact that the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupery published his first copy 75 years ago, The Little Prince is still giving us priceless lessons about love & life. The book is written for children but is also meant for adults.
It was written during World War II when, as a pilot, de St. Exupéry experienced a crash landing in the North African desert. He struggles to repair his airplane and water is running low. He then meets a little prince 🤴 and the experiences begin.
My favourite chapter of the book is the one about the little Prince and the fox 🦊:
“One only understands the things that one tames,” said the fox. “Men have no more time to understand anything. They buy things already made at the shops. But there’s no shop anywhere where one can buy friendship, and so men have no friends any more. If you want a friend, tame me…”
“What must I do, to tame you?” asked the little prince.
“You must be very patient,” replied the fox. “First you’ll sit down at a little distance from me – like that – in the grass. I shall look at you out of the corner of my eye, and you will say nothing. Words are the source of misunderstandings. But you’ll sit a little closer to me, every day…”
The next day the little prince came back.
“It would have been better to come back at the same hour,” said the fox. “If for example, you came at four o’clock in the afternoon, then at three o’clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o’clock, I shall be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is ready to greet you…”
The fox teaches the little Prince what it means growing to love a person. After the process of taming, they will come to mean something to each other and will need each other: “Here is my secret. It’s quite simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. Anything essential is invisible to the eyes.”
“Anything essential is invisible to the eyes,” the little prince repeated, in order to remember.”
However, the real lesson about true love comes from the relationship between the little prince and the rose 🥀
He leaves his planet because of her but then she is the reason why he comes back.
The rose 🥀 is delicate, needs protection from being eaten by a sheep, needs watering, and a barrier to block the wind. She is all that is vulnerable. She has her pride when she states that she was born with the sun and states that she is the only living rose to be found. She has only four thorns to protect herself and she tells the little prince she would use them. She insists on having a globe put over her at night to protect her. The Little Prince dutifully cares for her and then he must move on.
The little fox says “it’s the time you spent on your rose that makes your rose so important.”
“It’s the time I spent on my rose …,” the little prince repeated, in order to remember.
“People have forgotten this truth,” the fox said. “But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose …”
“I’m responsible for my rose …,” the little prince repeated, in order to remember.
So this is what it means. We are responsible for the ones we care about. That is love ❤️
Stuttgart547 