I Believe in Goodbyes After The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry I believe in goodbyes. There’s a passage in The Little Prince that really resonated with me when I heard it. The little prince had befriended a lonely fox on Earth, only to depart soon after. The fox, heartbroken, admits that he’s close to tears, while the little prince can only dejectedly remark that their friendship had done the fox no good at all. The fox ends with, “It has done me good, because of the color of the wheat fields.” It’s bittersweet. The fox and the little prince were each other’s only solace in the world, lone companions in the empty, rolling plains of Earth. They had only met a page before, yet their friendship had seemed so deep and vast I would have guessed they had spent years with each other. They both knew it would have to end someday, and when it came they took it in stride. And we’re left with the impression that the fox will live out his days without the little prince, reminded of the golden color of his hair every time he runs through those wheat fields. Despite it all, I couldn’t help wondering, that’s it? This is the ending I get for their friendship? Under 100 words and 385 letters. 9 lines of dialogue. Goodbye forever. Back then, I couldn’t really wrap my head around it. Maybe it was because I had only known a few friends in my life, and I had rarely ever experienced a real parting before. Or maybe it was because I absolutely hated it. Why would you ruin a perfectly good dynamic with an ending like that? Of course, after enough experience, I came to understand it. Everything leaves eventually. Everyone understands it at one point. Whether morbidly or mundanely, there’s nothing that you can keep by your side forever. People, places, things… they change, they die, they leave. But just because you’ll have to say goodbye doesn’t mean it’s all meaningless. “Because of the color of the wheat fields.” Because of the pattern on your scarf. Because of the warmth of your hand. Because of the time we spent together. That’s what makes it worth it. People’s lives aren’t short and straight paths to a singular destination. They’re winding, rocky, unmarked trails in the deep wilderness. Moments where our paths intersect are rare and valuable, and just as coincidentally as they meet, they split ways. So let’s enjoy these brief moments of real connection, even if it’s just for a second. And when the time comes… we’ll say goodbye, because of the color of golden wheat fields.
Liz Xu ‘24
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