At 9 years old, she paints an average of 8 paintings a day

At 9 years old, she paints an average of 8 paintings a day,

But at school they suggest she draw something “that others can understand too.”

I'll tell you honestly: I'm worried.

Concerned that a 9-year-old girl already has to give up her imagination to conform to the status quo.

Concerned that at 9 years old my daughter must already think that expressing her uniqueness may put her in uncomfortable situations.

My daughter has loved drawing since she discovered colored pencils at age 1.

It is her way of expressing herself and making sense of her emotions.

Being an introvert, words do not allow her to tell her story as she would like.

So she uses colors.

And her talent is certainly not in her technique,

but in being able to channel what she feels onto a sheet of paper or canvas, without filtering or altering anything.

Yet to the rest of the world what she does are incomprehensible scribbles.

What to her is her unique way of communicating, to others is something “that is not understood.”

And which is therefore not good.

Mamma mia how much I see myself in her!

How much I see little Emanuel again, too sensitive and introverted to interface with the world.

Too fragile and insecure to bear the burden of being different.

So that little Emanuel changed his register, and became the snooty, arrogant leader that little girls liked so much.

And as he grew up, his creative soul was clouded by an insane desire for material success.

To be achieved at all costs.

Even at the expense of abandoning his own dreams.

It took 9 years of depression, psychologists and psychotropic drugs to get my dreams back.

And another 7 years of spiritual toil to feel comfortable with myself again.

And who knows how many more years it will take me to really feel proud of who I am.

And all because at the age of 9 I was not able to disobey.

I was not able to break the rules and stay true to myself.

But I don't blame myself: at 9 years old you are not able to do that.

At 9 years old you want to please your parents.

At 9 years old you want to be good with other children.

And you don't realize that those little compromises then become chasms inside you.

That, little by little, empty you of your Essence.

But now that I am a father, I feel it is my duty to teach my children the value of disobedience.

Even at the cost of clashing with teachers.
Even at the cost of other parents not liking me.
And even at the cost that my daughter, if this continues, will soon steal my job!

But seeing my children so free and independent is worth more than any success I will ever achieve.

Because 20 years later, I have realized that real success is not about achieving something important.

But leaving a better world than we found it.

And for me a better world is one where diversity is exalted, not discouraged.

A world where disobeying the status quo is not an act of rebellion, but a normal way of life.

Challenge the ordinary, embrace the unusual. Always.

Emanuele