The Little Prince

By Antoine De Saint-Exupery

Copyright 1943

It was either in seventh or eighth grade that my homeroom teacher read this book to our class.  We all looked forward to the end of the day when we could set aside our school work and listen to a story.  I don’t really remember how much I learned from the book at that time, other than the fact that one never outgrows the ability to enjoy being read to.  For some time, I’ve had the French version of the book, but that didn’t do me much good.  Yes, I took three years of French in high school.  But no, I’m not capable of understanding a children’s book written in French.  Fortunately, last week I came across an English version in a used book store.

 

The Little Prince has come from a very, very small asteroid.  So small that by moving his chair around one day, he saw forty-four sunsets.  On a trip around the galaxy, the little prince visits other small asteroids, remarking on the strangeness of the adult inhabitants he meets.  Eventually coming to earth, he meets the narrator of the story, a pilot who has crashed his airplane in the desert and is worried about dying of thirst.  As the little prince tells the story of his adventures, both he and the pilot learn many life lessons.  

So much can be taken from The Little Prince.  What affected me when I read it this week?  

The Little Prince notices that he loves the singular rose on his planet more than men on earth love the thousands of roses on their bushes.

“The men where you live,” said the little prince, “raise five thousand roses in the same garden—and they do not find in it what they are looking for.”

“They do not find it,” I replied.

“And yet what they are looking for could be found in one single rose, or in a little water.”

“Yes, that is true,” I said.

And the little prince added:

“But the eyes are blind.  One must look with the heart..”

The little prince has learned what many adults never learn.  Love is something that is felt with the heart, not seen with the eyes or held in the hands.  One can appreciate a few simple belongings much more than a whole house overflowing with possessions. More is not usually better.