Once upon a time, in a little village in the mountains of Spain lived in solitude a master artist. He adored children visiting his workshop, and once a year he made special gifts for them: tiny and invaluable, and yet very fragile little gifts. The kids loved the delicate presents, but no matter how careful they were with them, after a while their beautiful gifts just shattered into thousands of pieces. The children cried with bitter tears, and after some time, the master made them new ones, more beautiful and more alluring, but even more fragile.

One day, the parent of a boy knocked on the artist’s door and asked him:

“Master, my child loves your miniature gifts, but why do you make them so delicate and so easily broken? He is so happy when he receives them, but becomes so sad when he loses them.”

The artist sat down on his wooden chair and said to the father:

“Because one day, a girl will give your boy her heart. It is the most precious and the most fragile thing in the world. He learns now, on things that don’t matter at all, to care for what one day will matter the most.”

(inspired by an ancient story)

Your friend,

Dr. Dragos

DR. DRAGOS – Award winning writer and scientist, filmmaker of the award-winning film The Amazing You. Dragos was nominated by MIT in Innovators Under 35 for “the brightest minds in Europe changing society with their projects” and his team at Singularity University was named by Forbes “among the smartest people in the world.” He spoke on stage on 6 continents and his work has been translated in 20 languages. Read his new book: Sleepers. You can follow him on FB.

Image courtesy of Annie Spratt.