Everything I Need To Learn In Life, I Learned From The Little Prince

May 7th, 2008 | Posted by Sharon Joy

My favorite book in the world. My Bible.

While looking for interesting events happening in Hong Kong around the time I’d be there, I came across this announcement:

Before the Fame: Sketches of Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Date: Opening on 03 May 2008 (Sat) at 6:30 pm
Venue: Fringe Club, The Economist Gallery

There are no words for the joy, the bliss, the happiness I had when I went to that exhibit. I wanted to take down all the drawings and hug them.

An interesting thing happened before we went to the gallery. On the MTR on our way to Lantau Island where the World’d biggest outdoor buddha was, a very old Chinese man caught my attention because he was talking on the phone in perfect English. A little later the seat beside him was available so I took it. Then I saw a very familiar sheep that served as zipper handle on the bag of this old man. I had thought it was keychain, and then realized his bag had the picture of the Little Prince. A smile broke into my face which he caught when he looked at me and I looked up to him and said “The Little Prince. I’m a fan.” I told him about the exhibit of the sketches that was to open that night and he said he’d go see it in the coming days. He was a very sweet, gentle old man. I liked him. He told me that if I had enough time, I might find it interesting if I walked back from the Giant Buddha. Later on the cable car, we saw that it would be a very very long walk that would probably take hours and hours to get to our destination. My friend said, “It’s just miles and miles of walking with nothing interesting to see.” I wanted to reply: “It’s not about what you can see. What is essential is invisible to the eye. It’s only with the heart that one can see clearly. And my heart clearly sees a journey. Like the journey I’ve only started, and a destination I’ll make up as I go along.” But I didn’t say a word.

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them.” – Le Petit Prince

Click image for photo album.