Everyone knows “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” with the holes in the pages of the various foods the caterpillar eats, but there are many other Eric Carle books with his distinctive illustrations and kid-friendly text.
This week we went to the public library and took out “The Very Quiet Cricket.” It tells the story of a newly hatched cricket who keeps trying to respond to greetings by fellow insects. The locusts whirrs and the bumblebee buzzes, along with a bunch of other insects, and each time the cricket tries rubbing his wings together to respond to their greeting, he can’t make a sound. Nothing. It doesn’t work.
At the end of the book he meets another young cricket, and she too, is a very quiet cricket. He tries one more time, he rubs his wings together “and this time he chirps the most beautiful sound she ever heard.”
(In a newer book, the book actually has a built-in mechanism that chirps as that specific page is opened. Our version was too old and the chirping mechanism all worn out. Which is actually good for Shabbos, because otherwise we couldn’t read this book on Shabbat.)
This simple children’s book has a powerful message about relationships. One telling test of a healthy, positive relationship, whether in marriage or friendship, is: “What does this relationship bring out in me?” Hopefully, the presence and closeness and relationship with your spouse or friend brings out the best in us, reveals hidden talent and abilities, and encourages us to do things we didn’t think possible.
A relationship that drags us down and brings out negativity or stifles our potential and growth ought to be seriously reevaluated and carefully considered with much thought and caution.