Feb 17. Childlike simplicity

Listen for expressions of truth in the simple speech of children. See what you can learn from them. Their insights are less conditioned by convention, and often are refreshingly perceptive. Be careful, however, not to be so childlike as to create trouble for others. To give an amusing but illustrative example, during my family’s visit to America when I was nine, my mother took us three boys across the border into Canada. As we returned through customs, the officer asked her, “Have you anything to declare?” “Nothing,” she replied. Instantly all three of us, hands over our mouths, cried out, “Oh, Mother!” Sternly, the official ordered her to open the trunk. There he found three little birchbark canoes, six inches long. So—be childlike, but don’t be naive!Support the show