Adversity stimulates kindness. Evidencing this is the gesture of a group of teenagers aptly called Angels who carry the banner of the Aleksandr Savchuk Foundation (ASF) a private non-profit organization based in Monaco and dedicated to the fight against cancer in promoting prevention and scientific research.
In response to that health crisis related to COVID-19 these Angels, the volunteers of the ASF, age 16-18, wished to do their part in what has become a wave – a global mobilization of solidarity by like-minded folk with generosity of heart. They dedicated their time and energy into creating a new initiative: “Time to stay at home”.
It’s a lovely video-recording in French of one of the great literary masterpieces conceived prior to the Liberation of France at the close of the Second World War “Petit Prince” of Saint Exupéry. What better way to enrich our time right now while we Stay at Home.
Read it as an adult to liberate your heart and discover the unique joy and clarity that children bring to our world. Read it as a child to be carried away on fantastical journeys. Or listen to the heart-felt narrations of it by these Angels. ´
From a Principality that advocates preserving the best of our planet for future generations, what better subject than the Petit Prince.
The choice of the “Petit Prince” of Saint Exupéry was not at random. Indeed, this story seems at every reading to be enriched by new meanings and invites our consciences to think differently, to refocus ourselves, to recover our position within humanity and to get involved in action with new significance.
Aleksandr Savchuk Foundation (ASF) Angels
It is particularly generous-hearted of the Aleksandr Savchuk Foundation Angels to lend their support to a Covid-19 beating initiative – because the health initiatives at this time to save and improve the lives of Covid-19 patients are undoubtedly temporarily diverting hospital resources away from the care of cancer patients – and it is defeating cancer which is the core principal focus of ASF. But love for fellow human beings is the sort of spirit of shared commitment that eventually will defeat all the diseases that cause suffering.
Hope Springs Eternal and let’s hope that Covid-19 recedes and we can find ways of focussing the same community spirit in support of the Angels and the ASF in their fight against cancer.
Take a moment to also click on this link and see the Angels in action playing out other delightful scenes in their spirited calling to defeat cancer. You feel their warmth and infinite capacity for hope.
The Little Prince
The Little Prince is a story by French aristocrat, writer, and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It first appeared in English and French in the US published there by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943, and posthumously in France following the liberation of France as Saint-Exupéry’s works had been censored and forbidden by the Vichy Regime. The story follows a young prince who visits various planets in space, including Earth, and contemplates themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss. Despite it taking on the flavour of a children’s book, The Little Prince makes illuminating observations about life and human nature that has influenced millions and millions of adults.
The Little Prince is Saint-Exupéry’s most successful work, selling an astounding almost 150 million copies worldwide, which makes it one of the best-selling and most translated stories ever published.
Imagine its influence – it has been translated into over 360 languages and dialects.
Rave Reviews of “Profound Observations”
British journalist Neil Clark, in The American Conservative in 2009, offered a thoroughly complimentary review of Saint-Exupéry’s overall work by enthusing that it gives: “a bird’s eye view of humanity containing some of the most profound observations on the human condition ever written”, and that the author’s story doesn’t solely reflect his contempt for selfishness and materialism but illustrates how life ought to be lived.
It is a great contribution to philosophy – here is a cameo glimpse of the what the “Petit Prince” encounters on his travels beyond earth to six other planets each of which was inhabited by a single, irrational, narrow-minded adult. Each journey is meant to critique an element of society. The planetary visits include:
- A king with no subjects, who only issues orders that can automatically be followed, such as commanding the sun to set at sunset.
- A narcissistic man who only craves the praise which comes from admiration and being the most-admired person on his uninhabited planet.
- A drunkard who drinks to forget his shame of being addicted to alcohol
- A businessman who is blind to the beauty of the stars and instead endlessly counts and catalogues them so as to possess them all (an early masterful insight into materialism);
- A lamplighter on a planet so tiny , a whole day lasts a minute. He wastes his life blindly following orders to extinguish and then relight the lamps every 30 seconds to be in sync with his planet’s day and night.
- An elderly geographer who has never travelled, or even remotely seen anything he writes about, providing a caricature of ridicule with reference to specialization in our modern world.
These six absurd people that the Little Prince encounters comprise, according to the narrator who is an actor within the story, caricatures that represent virtually the whole adult world.
The story is also an important reflection on the nature of grown-ups and their inability to perceive especially important things. At times it is the hope and enlightenment of children that show us the way – and most definitely the enthusiasm in the hearts of the Angels that carry the banner of the Aleksandr Savchuk Foundation (ASF).
