THOUGHTS ON: The Little Prince, life and integrity

Everywhere I go this week I see Antoine de Saint-Exupery's The Little Prince. At the gym I see a girl wearing a hand-made t-shirt emblazoned with the quote "what is essential is invisible to the eye", on a tv show someone reads the book to their mother who is in a coma, a pile of Little Princes lie on the front counter at my local book store, someone reads a copy on a train. Just a coincidence? Perhaps. But it is worthwhile contemplating the messages within this much-loved book.
Take that quote "what is essential is invisible to the eye". These days superficiality is king (or queen). We seem to value what we look like above everything else. Plastic surgery is on the increase - people go under the surgeon's knife in a quest for beauty or youth, or pay hundreds of dollars for products promising the same; social value is gauged by how many 'friends' you have on a MySpace page; we live in an era where what you look like can make you famous; and indeed we value and strive for fame itself.
Have we lost focus on what is important? How beautiful it is to be wise, have integrity, be a caring and kind person, even make people laugh. It's an old but true adage that we need to be reminded of, and if that is what the universe is trying to tell me this week then that's truly wonderful.

SM