a princess with sparkles in her hair

Tonight, I was having dinner with a friend at a Mexican restaurant downtown. The city had just finished celebrating Light Up Night, a festival that celebrates the beginning of the Christmas season. Inside the restaurant, people packed the tables and the bar. There was a mariachi band strumming happily at a nearby table, and one of the men was so jovial and genuine within the song he was singing, that you couldn't help but feel the pride of Mexico radiating from his essence.

I was in the middle of conveying a thought to my friend when this little girl from the next table got out of her seat and approached me. She looked like she may have been about seven years old. Laying limply across her brown hair was a thin pink scarf with shiny silver threads. She lifted up the end of the scarf and said to me, "See? THIS is my hair! Isn't my hair pretty?" She emphasized that the scarf was her hair, not that her literal hair was her hair.

I smiled at her, at her imagination, and her openness to walk up to a strange woman in a restaurant. "Yes! I see your hair! Look at how beautiful you are! Just like a princess," I replied to her.

While she had been smiling this whole exchange, the moment I said the word "princess," her eyes lit up. It was as if I had just handed her the keys to the world and made her the queen of it. Her parents called her back to her own table, so she gave me a quick wave and another bashful smile before bouncing into her chair. But I caught her sneaking a glance at me and smiling after she'd sat back down.

This little conversation between the child and me sent my mind into a whirl. I still held a conversation with my friend, but the whole time, my mind was mulling over what had just taken place. I resonated with that little girl's reaction. It was such a simple thing. You tell a person that they are beautiful, that they are worth while, and that they have value, and you have no idea the impact that you could have.

For all you know, it could save their life. It could restore their sense of dignity or humanity. At the very least, affirming someone's value can instill hope or turn a crummy day around. Everybody deserves to be loved and to have their beauty discovered and appreciated.

We all have the value of princesses and princes.

I thought about some of the experiences I've had, some of the ways that I've been treated or how I've treated others. It's amazing how the way that you're treated or spoken to can really instill within you feelings of what you do or don't deserve in life. The attitudes of others can make you feel either worthy and precious, or small and insignificant. I don't know if we as humans can comprehend the influence we have over each other and our ability to either lift each other up or tear someone down.

Perhaps if we felt a greater sense of responsibility towards one another, we could safeguard and care for our brothers and sisters more consciously. Perhaps the world would be more inviting and loving, and more people would not only hear but believe that they are beautiful.

I hope this girl knows that she deserves all the kindness in the world. I hope she knows that she IS a princess, and that she should be treated as such. In return, I hope she grows into a gracious young woman who sees the potential in everyone and loves them however she can.

This is the ways things should be -- for all of us. It really doesn't seem all that difficult.

With love,

Scout