Tonight, my out-of-town mother and I wandered into Echo Park's incredible independent bookstore, Stories [which incidentally turned 1 today--congrats Stories!] and I picked up a picture book I hadn't read before.
The story goes like this...
Riley, a rat, is content with life's simplest pleasures (food, family, his one and only love), whereas humans never cease to aspire to achieve more (better food, a larger home, better and more beautiful mates, and so on).
And the take-away message is summed up over the book's last few pages...
This is why it's never a good idea for people to compare their lives to animals. You will only end up feeling depressed...
because realizing that rats have a better life than you do, is really, really sad.
And the answer is very simple really--you just have to be happy with a lot less.
Release your inner Riley
The Short and Incredibly Happy Life of Riley is so poignant, so truthful, that it seems almost unfit for children. But, I remember, children are much more accepting of truth than us adults. And some messages are best learned at Reading Level-Ages 4 through 8.
Buy the book on Amazon.
