The children know. They have always known. But we choose to think otherwise: it hurts to know the children know. If we obfuscate, they will not see. Thus we conspire to keep them from knowing and seeing. And if we insist, then the children, to please us, will make believe they do not know, they do not see. They are remarkable -- patient, loving, and all-forgiving. It is a sad comedy: the children knowing and pretending they don't know to protect us from knowing they know.
Maurice Sendak (1928-2012), in the preface of I Dream of Peace: Images of War by Children of Former Yugoslavia (UNICEF, HarperCollins 1994)
1 comment:
Beautiful posting, Greg. Beautiful tribute.
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