Nobility of Children

Recently, while skimming through my images. I came across this photo of a beautiful child in Bhutan. It was made several years ago, but I can remember as if it was yesterday, the chilly day. He was bundling up his robes and concentrated on the task, which just struck me as so natural and universal.

There was an atmosphere to his emergence and lack of agenda; which consisted of nothing more than waking up and protecting himself from the elements. He was not concerned about high fashion or about what might happen in the next ten or twenty minutes. He was merely coming outside, feeling the wind, seeing the sun and sky, and breathing in the temperature of the day.

There is an overall, stimulating harmony in Bhutan and a calm nobility most evident in the country’s children. They are refined, but never arrogant. There is an organic humility from which they lead simply by virtue of being. This young monk has devoted his time and energy to being present, studying Buddhism, and placing the resulting well-wishes and peace into his monastery, country, and the world.

In all honestly, I selected the image because it is uplifting, especially in the way the sun glows on the door and how his eyes gaze into the distance without presumption. He is a boy wrapping cloth around himself to stay warm and finding his way into a new day.