Reading ‘The Little Prince’ teaches the importance of curiosity

A tourist poses for a photo with a Little Prince sculpture at Gamcheon Culture Village in Busan, South Korea, March 7, 2023. Photo: Xinhua

Each of us lives on our own lonely planet, everything has changed since I met you. I am looking for answers in my confusion. To others, you are no different from millions of others. But to me, you are important. I entrust this loneliness to you, not counting the length of light. 

The Little Prince was written by French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery. It tells the story of a pilot who landed in the desert with a broken-down plane and met the little prince from planet B612. He introduced the pilot to his planet, his life with roses, the people he met on six other small planets after quarreling with roses and running away from home, and what he saw and heard after coming to Earth.

The little fox that the little prince meets mentions the concept of "domestication." That is, the link between people, and walks into each other's hearts to meet the real you and me. The little prince is awakened and, after spending a few days with the pilot, he returns to take care of the rose.

Perhaps many people live on a lonely planet of their own, who cut off from others, and immerse themselves in their own world. Just like the little prince met the rose, which has changed him. He left his planet to travel all the way because of the confusion of getting along with the rose. Finally he found the answer and understood the meaning of the rose to him.

Although "The Little Prince" is a children's book, in my opinion, it is more a fairy tale for adults. Adults used to be children, and they used to immerse themselves in their rich inner world, clinging to their worn-out toys or a candy, a flower dress, full of curiosity about everything in the world, and constantly exploring and discovering with their clear and bright eyes. However, with the passage of time, adults are busy day and night, immersed in their work and career, only interests and rules left in their eyes. Time takes away too many memories. They seem to forget that they were once a child, and they often forget to feel and understand their children.

"The eye cannot see anything, you should look for it with your heart." This is one of my favorite sentences in this book. Many people feel that they are unhappy. In fact, it is not really unhappy, but because they do not know how to feel life with their hearts. They only judge by the financial benefits they see with their eyes. The little prince tells us that as long as we put our hearts into mind, human beings will find that happiness is actually around them.

Such a good book is worth reading over and over again to cleanse our hearts and not to forget our hearts. I have always believed that we are all children who have always pursued happiness.

The author is a student at Beijing Chenjinglun High School