Untamed

Midday New Year’s Eve, I replaced my Le Petit Prince 2005 wall calendar with a Wacky Wildlife 2006 one I got for half off at Log-on just a few days ago. It’s sad how calendars lose half their values before their year even starts. They take center stage in shops as popular no-brainer Christmas presents starting early December. And they’d be lucky if their shelf lives reach mid January. Where do all the unsold calendars go? Perishable items are not acceptable as donations to third-world countries.

While indulging in the sense of relief from knowing that the coming 52 weeks would start on Sundays instead of Lundis, I flipped through the 2005 calendar one last time to relive the 12 colorful illustrations that signified selected quotes from my all-time favorite story.

The Little Prince has long been my favorite story because it’s the only fiction in which everything is true. And though a short novel with the plainest words, it never fails to provide new insight each time it’s reread. And readers are bound to find a simple passage that just summarizes the most unforgettable chapters in their own lives.

Ce n’était qu’un renard semblale à cent mille autres. Mais j’en ai fait mon ami,
et il est maintenant unique au monde.

It’s miraculous, that magical moment when two people go from acquaintances to friends or more. The fox told us that it’s the time, effort and patience gone into taming someone that makes the established tie unique. He just didn’t mention that, unfortunately, the taming can be reversed. This quote just about summarized 2005 for me. It’s tragic, to be untamed. I can only hope that this chapter hadn’t left me untamable. One year closer to the end of my shelf life, I can't help but be haunted by the fact that though I'm considered to be at my prime biologically, I'm deemed perishable in the same way that wall calendars are.