children speak:
through the blue door.

​children the world over
speak of their experiences, thoughts and feelings,
telling their stories, "in images and text --
through the door(s) of symbolic expression,
they reveal all that the grownups need to know.
We need only learn to read their language. 

"For it is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is Essential is invisible to the eye. . . ."
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince (1943), end of Chap. 21
(full quotation:)
"'Goodbye,' said the fox. 'And now here is my secret, a very simple secret:
It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential
​ is invisible to the eye.' 
'What is essential is invisible to the eye,' the little prince repeated,
so that he would be sure to remember.  
'It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.'  
'It is the time I have wasted for my rose--' said the little prince,
so that he would be sure to remember.  
'Men have forgotten this truth,' said the fox. 'But you must not forget it.
You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed.
You are responsible for your rose . . .'  
'I am responsible for my rose,' the little prince repeated,
so that he would be sure to remember.'"  

Chapter 21 and the quotation references are part of the author's gentle comments
about love and responsibility.
One can see much with one's eyes; but it is with one's heart that one sees,
feels, and perhaps understands love. 
***
"anything can be borne if it can be made a story."
(Holocaust Literature)
***

​"it's impossible to hate somebody whose story you know."

Sometimes, a great deal of art and ornamentation goes into the door itself - children are naturally intuitive, and don't always express themselves in words or images until they feel safe enough, until they are certain that the adults around them are predictable, dependable and trustworthy. Then, the doors of expression begin to open and the real art begins.

This child reconstructs the house he loves - and lived in before his family separated. Remembering every little detail.

From this drawing, one of many of Syrian houses with blue doors, a nine year old Syrian girl tells an entire story of something she never should have experienced - a house set on fire, soldiers shooting at her and the baby . . . a "flash-bulb traumatic memory".

Sometimes, blue doors for expressing their experiences are closed and locked in the hearts of children. It takes patience and time to create a safe environment for healing to take place.

Behind the blue door - Syrian refugee children emerge and begin to tell of the things they have seen, experienced; lost. See more on the experiences of war and armed conflict affected children on our website alwaysbelisteningglobal.com.

Theodore Geisel -- Dr. Seuss!!

Expressing yourself is often best done together!

Who?!

This painting is developmentally more mature than many others of distraught, emotionally shut down children at a Jordanian camp for Syrian children and families -- the families in line at this large refugee camp in Jordan are somewhat differentiated by size and gender, and grouped by family unit. Still, the overall tone is foreboding as they are near a gravesite/cemetery. Is this a memory from before the families entered the camp?