1. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
2. "A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength." - Rachel Carson
3. What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong
4. "One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world." - Malala Yousafzai
5. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? directed by Morgan Neville
6. "Being out there on the land is what connects us to each other. It is healing for us when we all go out together on the land. It’s what grounds us and connects us, knowing that generations of our ancestors have walked across those lands." - Quannah Chasinghorse
7. "We deserve a safe future. And we demand a safe future. Is that really too much to ask?" - Greta Thunberg
8. "Who I am today may not be who I want to be tomorrow. As a growing and learning person, change is necessary and not immediate. And I'll continue to work on the best version of myself." - Isra Hirsi
The Blue Shirts embraced What a Wonderful World as an anthem. It perfectly encapsulated the ethos of the future world they had chosen. Radio stations were bombarded with requests as the movement grew, rocketing the song up the charts. The future Earth Anthem reminded people of the best things life on the planet had to offer, like nature, friends, and wonder.
Common childhood qualities in the 21st century were said to be common in all humans by the 22nd. Humanity would need to celebrate curiosity, imagination, openness, creativity, and learning in order to survive. Protecting the sanctity of childhood became of paramount importance.
I hear babies crying. I watch them grow. They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know.
Repeated exposure to the song encouraged people to be kinder with one another. Those with courage were more open about the love they felt for their friends. The majestic raspy voice of Louis Armstrong heralded the dawn of a new age. When it came time to select an official planetary anthem, the choice was easy.
What a wonderful world it was, the home of every human being who ever was. The aggregate of their joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of humanity…
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world.