At
40, Franz Kafka (1883-1924), who never married and had no children, was
walking through a park one day in Berlin when he met a girl who was
crying because she had lost her favourite doll. She and Kafka searched
for the doll unsuccessfully.
Kafka told her to meet him there the next day and they would come back to look for her.
The
next day, when they had not yet found the doll, Kafka gave the girl a
letter "written" by the doll saying "please don't cry. I took a trip to
see the world. I will write to you about my adventures."
Thus began a story which continued until the end of Kafka's life.
During
their meetings, Kafka read the letters of the doll carefully written
with adventures and conversations that the girl found adorable.
Finally, Kafka brought back the doll (he bought one) that had returned to Berlin.
"It doesn't look like my doll at all," said the girl.
Kafka
handed her another letter in which the doll wrote: "my travels have
changed me." The little girl hugged the new doll and brought the doll
with her to her happy home.
A year later Kafka died.
Many years later, the now-adult girl found a letter inside the doll. In the tiny letter signed by Kafka it was written:
"Everything you love will probably be lost, but in the end, love will return in another way."
Embrace
change. It's inevitable for growth. Together we can shift pain into
wonder and love, but it is up to us to consciously and intentionally
create that connection.
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