Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Inspiration for the Youth

Antoine de Saint-Éxupéry
and
Richard Bach
The House where Saint-Éxupéry wrote chapters of The Little Prince in New York City,
located on East 52nd St. between Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue, just a block away from St. Patrick's Cathedral and across from the Olympic Center 

This is not a hat! This is an Elephant devoured by a snake in the little prince's drawing



















Le Petit Prince



When looking for inspiration beyond their religious belief, the vast majority of Americans normally seeks empowerment through motivators such as Tony Robbins, Steven R. Cobby, or outstanding characters' perspectives, such as Steve Jobs, among others.  Others; more intellectually philosophical; would go back to read Nietzsche or Williams. But early in school, for most young Americans and many others worldwide, the first experience could be to read Richard Bach's Jonathan Livingston Seagull and Antoine de  Saint-Éxupéry's The Little Prince (Le Petit Prince, in its original French, which I reread with pleasure from my local library; or El Principito, as I first read it in Spanish version.)  The fact is that inspiring in the way to perceive nature beyond our standard expectations becomes potentially an unpredictable paradigm to motivate the youth.  For instance, in the motivation psychology of   Cobby in his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (including his version for the young), the act of flying relates to giving up, resigning, quitting, and so on.  However, for both Bach and  Saint-Éxupéry, both aviators as a coincidence, flying conveys the meaning and feeling of freedom and liberty. They are also both inspired by nature as they present and discuss several perspectives driven by natural forces themselves. Air, space, speed, the lack of gravity as well as gravity itself, become scenery drivers and a leit motif in both master pieces.  The art of flying and the science of gravity break the sense of space and size.  In the Jonathan Livingston Seagull (which I first read in Spanish as Juan Salvador Gaviota), space is unlimited to trying and retrying and likewise there is no limit of attempts to reach the goal of flying high and in a reliable way.  

The Little Prince provides a sense of self-analysis, self-knowledge, self-assurance, and every doubt and challenge is followed by a possible solution and a probable strategy in perspective.  The Seagull is more experimental, and trial and error are more likely to occur in order for success to take place.

Both creations convey the art of succeeding when love and passion to attain a goal is there vibrantly vivid in the heart of the youth.




http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exupéryhttp://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_de_Saint-Exupéry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Bach

“Can miles truly separate you from friends... If you want to be with someone you love, aren't you already there?”




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