Hope for the Flowers

I first saw this book in the Kyobo bookstore in Cheonan about two weeks after I had arrived in Korea. The hand lettering and simple but lovely pictures caught my eye, as did the word "hope".

The story is about two caterpillars who get tired of eating and getting bigger. They decide to climb "the pile" of caterpillars that everyone is climbing, only to find that there is actually nothing at the top.

All along, they have this voice inside of them that makes them think there is more to life than just eating and climbing the caterpillar pillar. Finally, they find that the way to find who they really are and their true purpose is to risk their lives by becoming a butterfly.

The story, written in 1972, has been shared around the world as a parable of hope. It gives hope that amazing transformations in individuals and in the world are waiting to happen and that in what seems like an ending, a new beginning is created.