Little Selma (2)

As they sat in the living room reading a book about fairies and their cute little wings, Selma looked out the window, stared wonderingly into the sky and turned back to her mom and asked: “Mom, why is the sky blue?”

Selma’s mom fell into silence for a while; she couldn’t remember what she’d learned in school about that subject and she couldn’t begin to imagine how her little girl’s mind wondered into that direction causing her to ask such a question!

“Hmmm… Well honey, the sky is blue during the day, gray when it’s cloudy and black at night. In the evening, it is a cool shade of pink, orange and red.” She wittingly replied.

“Can I touch it? I mean if I stand high enough, on the longest ladder ever made, can I touch it?” Selma asked again.

“No sweetie, you can’t. If you’re on an airplane that the closest you can get to the sky but you cannot touch it. Think about it, somethings around us are so beautiful, like stars, the moon and the sun, in order to keep them safe from harm, they are paced far away.” Selma’s mom replied.

“So they won’t get dirty like the sea?” Selma asked trying to make sense of what she had just heard.

“Yes. So they can stay clean and beautiful” Selma’s mom replied.

“Why do people make beautiful things dirty mom?” Selma asked again!

Selma’s mom feared the conversation heading into this direction. She didn’t want to explain the carelessness of human beings to Selma, she didn’t want her to know about their greed and their selfishness.

“Selma, some people are not careful enough when dealing with beautiful things. They don’t know how their actions affect the things around them. If you want this to change some day, you have to take care of everything you feel is beautiful.” Selma’s mom replied.

Selma ran to the next room, carried her little kitten and came back.

As she held her close to her heart she whispered, “I will always take care of you because you are beautiful to me”.

Yet another day passes with Selma and her steps through life.
The night falls and the sky is black again, glimmering with little stars scattered here and there.
Selma closes her eyes and falls into a peaceful sleep.

Good night Selma.