THE LAMPLIGHTER

DATE Thursday, October 13, 2011
TIME 6:00 pm – 10:00 pm PDT
WHERE Alki Beach Area

THE LAMPLIGHTER
A K Mimi Allin

STORY
The novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, Le Petit Prince (The Little
Prince), is about a little boy who lives on an asteroid with one rose
and three volcanoes that come up to his knees, one of which is extinct
at that. When The Little Prince realizes he is unhappy, he sets off to
learn about life and visits seven nearby planets, the last of which is
Earth. On his travels, he meets The Lamplighter, a man under orders to
extinguish his lamp at daybreak and light it again at dusk. The
Lamplighter explains how his task, once useful, has became absurd over
time as his planet began spinning more and more quickly. Now that a
new day occurs every minute, the lamplighter is so busy there isn’t a
moment to sleep. Is not The Lamplighter a metaphor for our own
condition and times? I know it happens to me. I get so busy doing
things I think are of greater consequence that I often miss the
smaller, simpler things that really make up the truly significant
stuff (seeing the stars, sharing a sunrise, listening to a friend,
making a dance, putting my hands in the earth, talking to the
elephants). The Little Prince is a fable about how money, ego and
power close our hearts over time and turn into dimwitted adults.