I watched The Little Prince last night with my mother and it was amazing. I had been really looking forward to it since the book is one of my favorite reads because of the deep message on seeing with your heart and remembering the humanity of childhood wonder and forming bonds and what those bonds mean. The movie took all those themes and expanded on them further and I think everyone needs to read and see it.
And, I guess you could say it's helped me come to terms with a thing I've been scared of for years but often try not to think about. My mother was never in great health. Yet every day of her life, she never ceased being so hard-working, organized, and altruistically caring. But she has had a bad liver since childhood so she tires easily and can't do as much as she'd like. But she still keeps on doing everything for my sake and everyone else she loves (but especially for me).
The thing is, eventually it has to end because no one lives forever. And her time may be even shorter; her health has been gradually getting worse and she's at risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma, a type of liver cancer.
I never liked confronting that. I never want to believe she'd die soon; I want to believe we'd be together for years more. But she was never scared of death and never did want to live to be too old. Besides, she misses her father, whom she was very close to and who died from lung cancer a few years ago, every day and she just lost her older brother to liver cancer last year.
After the movie ended, she tearily told me again how she wishes to be with her father again and that she feels I'm ready to stand on my own.
Earlier that day, her brother-in-law who's a physician had been insistent she go back to Taiwan to get an MRI of her liver (it's a lot cheaper to do it there than in the States because of the universal healthcare system there) because of her strong risk factor and maybe a few other intense and not-so-pleasant words. She's not interested in getting any treatment because she has no desire to wreck our finances to my education and my life just to keep her alive for a few years more. She is considering doing it anyway if only so we all know how much time we have left with her so we may prepare our hearts for when the time comes.
She told me to spend our remaining time learning what I have left to learn from her. To learn all the life skills I would need once she's gone. And I agreed. I fully intend to treasure our time, no matter how much of it is left.
The Little Prince deals heavily with the theme of how once a bond is formed, it is forever special to a person. How once you have tamed something, it changes from a thing like a hundred other things to something unique in all the universe.
And though parting is painful and full of sorrow, as long as you remember that person, as long as you never forget them, they are still here for you. They will be here with you in every sunset. They will be here for you in everything that reminds you of them. They will be here with you in your trials and your triumphs. As long as you never forget them, there's still there. If someone was importantl to you, then even when you cannot see them, you can see them with your heart as long as you remember them.
Because it is just as the Fox said: "It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."
I don't think I'm doing the theme enough justice just describing it, so I have a request for anyone who reads this: Please read and watch The Little Prince.
Even if you think you've seen this theme a million times and that you don't believe hearing it again would make a difference, just do it. Because it is that important in a broken world where everyone to some extent at some point in their lives, loses sight of what's truly essential.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The entire translated book is here: http://download.bioon.com.cn/upload/201111/21084046_8501.pdf
The movie can be found on Netflix and in some theaters.
