Stargirl

As Willanona the rat scampered over my toes, and nibbled my ears, and cuddled against my belly, I read Stargirl once again. Schoolbooks lay scattered all around me, but I could not read them. I had to know Stargirl again; I had to remember.

I skipped through some words, but savored others--almost like I could taste them. Reading that story is like touching a small bit of something inside me. Perhaps that something is in all of us. Archie, Stargirl's surrogate grandpa, would say it is the primitive within us: the unevolved human inside each person.

But I say it is the soul. God has given us a spirit that moves, that feels, that lives. If we have this soul, why do we become stagnant? How is it that we still the beats in our hearts and embrace normality? When did we stop splashing through fountains and looking strangers in the eye?

Night fell around me last night and I went to sleep feeling discontent with humanity. While babysitting Gabe and Sophie this morning, however, I was reminded that "Stargirl" is still in us. As Gabe grabbed my hand, pulling me to the ground to examine an ant, I remembered. When Sophie asked me, "Did you see your shadow? There's mine!" I remembered. While I looked up into a tree at a nest Gabe had pointed out, I remembered.

Many people become obsessed with work, busy with school, and fall into such a hectic way of life that they forget to remember to watch the ants and see the shadows. But children will always remember. And so should we.