Growing Up, Not Growing Old

By Shaun Brannnon C. Leonar

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly.” That was the only phrase
I understood remembered in “The Little Prince”, a book written by Antoine de
Saint-Exupery. It was the very first book I read in both my first grade and life.
However, I never really understood what it was trying to convey to the everyone.
At least, not until a few weeks ago when Ma’am Jessa told us to read it. At first, it
seemed like a waste of time; reading a children’s book for a literature class
during the eleventh grade but after remembering the phrase, I realized that it is
one of the most important books that I will ever read. A few days after, our class
watched the movie version of it which reminded me of my childhood and the
lessons that I mustn’t forget as I continue to grow.

When I was young, my parents were overprotective, too strict, and always
busy which led me to be left alone for the most part of my childhood. They
always left me in front of a television and a console which became my own world.
In the movie, the life of the little girl was something that struck me hard because
her childhood was similar to mine - the parents had little to no time for their child;
most of the adults didn’t understand her; and most of the grown-ups were narrow
minded. Lack of time did not only lead me to develop rebellion, but also left my
parents to lack understanding about me. Due to this, I was able to learn that one
of the essentials in parenting was time for without it, a child’s growth will be
negatively affected.

Throughout the whole reading of the book, a line was stuck in my mind,
“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for
children to be always and forever explaining things to them”. Growing up, I had to
explain my actions to them. They never understood why I played video games a
lot because they were always too serious. To me, it was where I had freedom,
where perfection was not a must, where I could interact with people, and my only
connection to the world. To them however, it was only a game played for either
fun or venting out emotions, and it broke me because I’ve been doing this for a
long time.

In the end, I was able to forgive and simply love them as they are. The
book taught me that growing up isn’t the problem about adults, rather it was
forgetting to enjoy life. Sometimes, we take things too seriously that we forget to
enjoy life and to look at the big picture. We must always remember that not all
things are as they seem to be, and that we must enjoy life to the fullest so that
when we grow up, we may be able to avoid growing old like the adults in “The
Little Prince”.