Love and hope, again

Flipping through one of my writing journals, I came by this quote from Dostoevsky. For anyone familiar with his classic novel Crime and Punishment, I thought this quote is a powerful one.

"They wanted to speak, but could not; tears stood in their eyes. They were both pale and thin;  but those sick pale faces were bright with the dawn of a new future, of a full resurrection into a new life.
  They were renewed by love; the heart of each held infinite sources of life for the heart of the other." ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky

Crime and Punishment focuses on the mental anguish and moral dilemmas of an impoverished former student in St. Petersburg, Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov. In dire need of cash, he formulates and executes a plan to kill an unscrupulous pawnbroker. He argues that with the pawnbroker's money he can perform good deeds to counterbalance the crime, while ridding the world of a worthless vermin. He also commits this murder to test his own hypothesis that some people are naturally capable of such things, and even have the right to do them. Throughout the novel, Raskolnikov justifies his actions by connecting himself mentally with Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, as he believes that murder is permissible in pursuit of a higher purpose.

Fulghum Kindergarten Rules

We've all gone through kindergarten years.  Those were the days, my friend...

Kindergarten years, one of the happiest in our lives. Well, mine was. How about yours? One of my favourite books by Robert Fulghum is All I needed to know I Learned in Kindergarten. I occasionally revisit to read his great advice on how to live and be ... handy for all seasons. Meant to be for kids, but as adults, we still can learn from.

• Clean up your own mess.
• Don't hit people.
• Don't take things that aren't yours.
• Flush.
• Play fair.
• Put things back where you found them.
  
• Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
• Share.
• Wash your hands before you eat.
• Watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.

On reflection, every child needs a sense of belonging, to feel accepted and be recognized, aside from feeling safe and secure.   

I must love the book so much; I recently found out in my bookshelves that I have two copies. 

Through the Eyes of a Child

"See the glory of a rose ... through the wide eyes of a child." 


A child's laughter is so innocuous, yet infectious. Don't we love it all. We must learn to laugh like them, sometimes even cry like them (but n more tantrums, as we have matured in years)  We can learn to be happy like them, even feel like them. It's wonderful to laugh and be child-like once in a while, and to keep that inner peace and warmth through the eyes of a child.

Earlier, whilst musing on a cool Sunday morning, a carefree lorikeet gently distracted my attention as it perched on my balcony.

Soon, so many lovely children came to mind, the most recent are Samantha and Chloe, six and four. Then Jamie came to mind, a lovable boy, son of a friend. If my recollection is right, he was about six years old then. He's 12 now. 

One day he came home from school with rosy cheeks.

"Mum, I think I'm getting married," he excitedly announced to his mother.
"What makes you think that?" replied my friend, his mother dear.
"Well, I was in the playground today and Nikki came and kissed me."

The image I've chosen to attach here is that of Her Majesty, QEII. I've always loved this picture of her. Who would ever think that this three-year old lovely child would one day be Queen.

And then again, as children, we are all beautiful in the eyes of our parents.

Thanks to Youtube, I found the song I was looking for, "Through the Eyes of a Child" and Percy Faith's music remains as soothing and easy listening as ever.






Through the Eyes of a Child 

By Percy Faith & Female Chorus 

Music by: Émile Stern 

Lyrics by: Eddy Marnay

The wide eyes of a child look upon a world reborn 

See the glory of a rose that never bears a thorn.

The wide eyes of a child can invent a laughing moon 

And the orange sun leaps high just as a floating toy balloon .

He clearly sees the flower and the bird 

Whose thoughts he knows likely any word 

And any child can hear ringing laughter from a stream 

Hear the music of the heart to us a half-forgotten dream.

(In sleep he hears the star's distant song 

Oh, may its wonder last for his whole life long) 

If we had vision too as we stumble on our ways 

We could sometimes see our days

as through the eyes of a child.

(Thanks to Japanese1970 & aguschina78)


Video Credit:

Through the Eyes of a Child. Percy Faith and Female chorus. Youtube uploaded by Jokarilon. Accessed 1 March 2014.         


Image Credit:

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, aged 3. en.wikipedia.org. Public Domain.


(c) March 3, 2014.  Tel. Leaves from my Musings. All rights reserved.