We are continually amazed by the late Fred Rogers’ ability to illuminate aspects of life using just a few words, in his calm, spacious way.  In this 1 minute video, he talks about taking time reflect on the gifts of beauty we are given, and then does just that, for 7+ seconds of miraculous and daring silence on national TV.

In his 2002 Dartmouth College Commencement Address (video and transcript here), we found this pearl:

…beside my chair, is a French sentence from Saint-Exupery’s Little Prince. It reads, “L’essential est invisible pour les yeux.” What is essential is invisible to the eye. Well, what is essential about you? And who are those who have helped you become the person you are? Anyone who has ever graduated from a college, anyone who has ever been able to sustain a good work, has had at least one person, and often many, who have believed in him or her. We just don’t get to be competent human beings without a lot of different investments from others.

It’s not the honors and the prizes, and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It’s the knowing that we can be trusted. That we never have to fear the truth. That the bedrock of our lives, from which we make our choices, is very good stuff.

 

“L’essential est invisible pour les yeux.”