Eyes

I read this book called "Lullabies for Little Criminals" by Heather O'Neill.
It was an amazingly non-judgmental, first-person narrative of a 13-year old girl living with a junkie dad, on and off the streets, practicing juvenile prostitution, run-ins with social services, etc. It's set in Montreal. It's really powerful.
I don't give children enough credit. Their perspective is so paradoxical: wise and yet naive. They see a lot and understand a lot... but their labels are so different than our own.

Here's the quote that encapsulates O'Neill's goal to me -

"He said that if you were able to look at the crows really closely, you would see that their eyes were stolen baubles, like buttons or marbles. To get real eyes, they had to steal them from children. Older people's eyes were too set in their ways of looking and would be no good for a crow. That's why people wouldn't let their children out after dark. The crow who stole the eyes of a real child was king. With a piece of plastic they could just see what was in front of them, but with a child's eyes, they could see the whole world."

I wonder what Mitchell's eyes are seeing right now -- he's coming over to me for a hug every thirty seconds. He's grouchy.

(I realize that this blog has become a book review. It's just that my own thoughts are too muddled with the stress.)