Question that came to the parent, as she, read the illustrated book with her own child, translated…
My children are kept at home due to the outbreaks, the school stopped holding its sessions, with distant education still keep going, and, mommy becomes, a teacher’s aide too.
The mixed course on Fridays, reading one of three illustrated books, one of them, “The Crocodile Loves the Giraffe: Moving Here, Moving There”, I thought, this set of amazing readers, how many moms had, recommended it as they started crying, reading through the volumes, and I’d, opened up that book of story with my daughter.
The story goes, the crocodile fell in love with the giraffe, the two decided to move in together. And yet, the home of the crocodile was, way too small for the giraffe, while the home of the giraffe, too big for the crocodile, but, to be with each other, they’d had to, adjust, but they were both, having it hard, living together, and they couldn’t, see each other, regularly. Thankfully, they got the idea, to make a poolside home, as the crocodile stays in the pool, it could be at eye level with the giraffe, while the giraffe sees the crocodile smiling back, and, in this fitting space for them both, neither needed to compromise, to give up one’s own way of life anymore.
Of course, I understand, that the story is telling: when we’re faced with someone who’s, different, we can’t be ourselves simply, and we can’t, lose ourselves completely either, but with that empathy, and love, to find a win-win for both, it’s just, that as I’d read the book to my daughter, my daughter’s careless, “maybe, they weren’t, meant to be together.”, struck up a different idea in me.
the photo of the book, from online
I’d once seen a view: every relationship needs adjusting to each other, but can’t be forever in that state of adjusting. This stressed on how the impacts of life style differences may be hard, while, adjusting, is merging of the two different means of life. In truth, in this life, we have, some, deeply set bottomlines, and, spreading it out normally, we can’t really say who’s right or wrong, but, when we’re, “together”, we’d, started, stepping on the boundaries, and, no matter which side it got started, it’s, cruel for both individuals.
But the characters in the book teaches us, “So long as the two of you have the hearts, there’s, nothing you can’t conquer together!”, and, this may be a good point, but, the crocodile may have the rules that it can’t, let go of, while the giraffe can have the persistence that it can’t, let go of, but they’d had to, compromise, and, in the process of adjusting to one another, they’d, lost that love they felt for each other slowly.
Especially in some people, there would be, the wrong and odd values, which turns the entire relationship to beyond bad. And, in this situation, if there’s still that instance on building up that new home together, and not make the exit when it’s necessary, it would cause the individual to fall into that trap of “it’s all because I didn’t work hard enough that’s why it didn’t work!”, that sense of guilt, instead of, focusing on, taking care of, the wounded, self.
with the parent, feeling, a bit, tangled…
Love is a good thing, having the heart, a good thing, fighting to the end, also a good value, but, not everybody we meet is, worth our time and energies, nor are all relationships, meant to last until the very end. The lesson of empathy for the children in this book, and maybe, we should, also remind them: sometimes, giving up isn’t wrong. After all, learning to bid that love that didn’t fit right perfectly farewell, is a sort of a wisdom that comes with, maturity too.
And so, this, is on how a simple children’s book can teach such adult values to people, like how this book, the giraffe and the crocodile are in love, and, they’d tried making it work, but couldn’t, and they’d found a way, to still keep their own ways of life, and also, be together with each other, and that would be, the best kind of result in a relationship, only, that it does NOT work out in real life, because, sometimes, no matter how we compromised with each other, it still, doesn’t quite work, and, learning when to pull that plug, to call it quits, it’s, also, a very important lesson, that they don’t teach us at school, so, we must, learn it, on our own here.