Fairy Tales

The Little Mermaid - Copenhagen

Today I had a choice between the Bataan Death March and the birth of Hans Christian Anderson. Considering the climate of the times I decided to go with the girl who walked on knives rather than the men who walked in front of bayonets.

With the Brothers Grimm you always had happily ever after following a time of terror and challenge. With Anderson, you got a more bitter sweet reality. In his stories, the major character rises to the best they can be despite terror, cruelty, and seeing hopes and dreams dashed.

Anderson knew that human beings have the capacity for almost unbelievable cruelty. In response to that quality, human beings have the capacity for almost unending nobility.

Look at the world around you: War, poverty, disease, disaster. It would be easy to to get dragged down into the negative. So look again: Love, charity, and heroism.

So there she sits on her rock, heroically looking out to sea rather than back towards grief and loss. Maybe we can all learn from the example.