where's the little prince?

“The grown-ups are certainly altogether extraordinary,” he said simply, talking to himself as he continued on his journey.

Sadly, Exupéry’s little prince didn't happen to visit the planet of the college student. It certainly would have been a memorable experience, for it is a small planet, full of insecurity but surprisingly vain and arrogant. The only inhabitant talks a lot without saying much just like the grown-ups but, although he does not admit it, doesn't let go a question just like the little prince. It is a peculiar creature which abides that tiny spot between childhood and adulthood, between innocence and despair. The college student on that tiny planet, by a flick of chance, is male: not that we want to be sexist, but this is what the evidence showed. Still bearing the marks of youth on his face – the occasional pimple or flimsy beard, he looks with eyes half-closed simulating extreme intellectual effort. But he is only wondering where all his socks disappear after putting them in the washing machine.

“What is sexism?” the little prince would ask staring with his blue eyes at the student. “It is the belief that one gender is inferior to, less valuable or less competent than the other,” would declare the student haughtily as if he had found the answer to life, the universe and everything else. “Where do your socks disappear after you put them in the washing machine?” would change the subject the little prince. “Your question is childish. I deal only with matters of consequence,” would shout the student blushing. The conversation would seize and the little prince would continue his journey.

“College students are altogether extraordinary,” he would say to himself. “They are neither children nor they are like grown-ups. They are trapped in that niche between who they want to be and who they really are.” They are not sad creatures though. The beauty of not-knowing makes it possible to see more than the eyes are capable of.