Debou's Correspondence with The Mother

c. 1949

The lesson of the silk worm

The student expresses his surprise that the silk worm weaves his own prison. But the worm replies that he is crafting with joy the cocoon in which he will enclose himself, because it is inside the cocoon that the transformation to make him a butterfly will take place. This is a same effort that the student makes to develop and express what he has inside him. One could say that few things are as ugly as a caterpillar, but then few things are as beautiful as a butterfly. To change the unsightly silk worm into a beautiful blue butterfly, while remaining for a time imprisoned in a cocoon, would surely be worthwhile.

In the same way for the student, school is a cocoon in which he must enclose himself with joy — because thanks to it all the capacities latent in him can be developed and expressed fully and freely.

c. 1949