It is incredible to see the hardships and challenges that some children can endure. They seem to have an unending supply of inner strength that adults only yearn to harness. Maybe they are just more open to digging deep and finding a way to survive. Children are constantly learning and growing each day. So they are not unaccustomed to striving to overcome whatever appears before them. They are not pre-programmed like adults to judge the difficulty before even trying. They simply sail into the challenge with all they have to learn another lesson or acquire another skill needed later in life. Or maybe they have yet to become as cynical as most adults who waste so much energy and strength on trivial items.
Sadly, adults look at childlike wonderment as a shortcoming. We mock other adults who attack a problem in the wholehearted manner of a child. Yet, in truth, maybe that wide-eyed child knows a secret we adults have long since forgotten. We have immense strength deep inside each of us. And with the honesty and faith in a child’s young heart and mind, they are still able and willing to reach inside and bare all to overcome their challenges and difficulties. There is nothing as intense, profound, and awe-inspiring as a child who is determined to win the fight.
Never forget that power is deep inside each of us. And all adults need to do is choose to search their hearts for that strength and conviction that was once so easily wielded as your younger self’s superpower.
P.S. Thank you Mila for yet another life lesson and your amazing friendship. I treasure them both!
Kathy, reading this inspiring post of yours about Mila’s strength and resilience reminds me of the wonderful quote of Helen DeVos at the ground breaking of the Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in 1993. Helen’s husband, Rich, made the generous gift making the first full-service children’s hospital possible in West Michigan. His initial gift inspired hundreds of other gifts that today have grown into thousands of gifts, large and small, to keep cutting-edge and compassionate care available to all children who come here for care. Helen said, “If we could see through the eyes of a child, we would be able to see the beauty and best in everything, and to understand that with faith and hope, wishes and dreams do come true. We would be able to look beyond the limits we adults sometimes impose on our lives, to be able to see the significance of every act of compassion, the joy in every expression of love.”
This certainly describes Mila and her fortitude and determination to not only survive and thrive. We adults sometimes think we’re the wise ones, but truly, we can all learn a lot about wisdom from our children like Mila and so many others. Thanks so much, Kathy, for sharing her wonderful story with all of us, your grateful readers.