Wise Little Girl [reflection] [Greek translation]

I know a wise little girl who cannot walk.

She is confined to a wheelchair, and she may

spend the rest of her life there, since her doctors

hold out almost no hope of ever making her

paralyzed legs better. When I first met this little

girl, she flashed me a smile that burned me with

its blazing happiness. How open she was! She

wasn't hiding out from self-pity or asking for

approval or protecting herself from a sense of

shame. She felt completely innocent about not

being able to walk, like a puppy that has no idea

if it is a mongrel or a champion of the breed. She

made no judgments about herself.

That was her wisdom.

I have seen the same wise look in other children,

"poor" children as society sees them, because they

lack food, money, secure homes, or healthy bodies.

By the time they reach a certain age, many of these

children grasp just how bad their situation is. The

way that adults look at their lives robs them of that

first innocence that is so precious and rare. They

begin to believe that they should feel bad about

themselves; that this is "right."

But this wise little girl, being only four, floated

above pity and shame like a carefree sparrow.

She took my heart in her hands and made it as

weightless as a cotton puff, so that it was impossible

for me to even begin to think, "What a terrible thing."

All I saw was light and love. In their innocence, very

young children know themselves to be light and love.

If we will allow them, they can teach us to see

ourselves the same way.

One sparkle from a little girl's gaze contains the same

knowledge that Nature implants at the heart of every

life-form. It is life's silent secret, not to be put into

words. It just knows. It knows peace and how not

to hurt. It knows that even the least breath is a

gesture of gratitude to the Creator. It smiles to

be alive, waiting patiently for ages of ignorance

and sorrow to pass away like a mirage.

I see this knowledge showing itself in the eyes of

children more and more, which makes me think

that their innocence is growing stronger. They are

going to disarm us adults, and that will be enough

to disarm the world. They feel no reason to spoil

the environment, and so the environment will be

cleaned up without a quarrel. A wise little girl told

me the future when she looked at me, so full of

peace and contentment. I rejoice in trusting her

above all the experts. As light and love drive away

our guilt and shame, her prophecy must come true.

• Artist:Michael Jackson
• Album:Dancing the dream