Some Janusz Korczak's writings dealing with kites as representatives of the world of the imagination, of vision and of hope.
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A Kite – a Gift from the WindAnd what about kites?
Just as the sea gives a child a toy – a boat
So the wind has to give him a kite.
It takes so little, string, a piece of plywood or cardboard.
Korczak, The Religion of the Child, p 202
Every Child Should Have a KiteDo your children like fun and games?
What are their favorite games? Playing ball? Bicycling?
Why do you, who live down in the valley, ignore kites?
Every child in the valley must have a kite, for there is strong wind on the hill at Ein Harod.
You need all kinds of kites, and on every festive occasion you must fly scores, even hundreds, of them, in all shapes and colors.
Z. Gilad, "Encounters and Conversations",
from The Life of Korczak, by H. Mortkowitz, p 192
I Would Like to be as High up as that Kite:
When there is a strong wind, the kite goes up really well.
A big kite made of cloth, with a wooden frame and a tail three cubits long.
Will it fly?… Won’t it? … Yes, it is flying!
Oh, it’s falling down! … There’s no wind …
There is wind, but the tail does not balance the kite properly.
Four hats are tied to the tail in order to improve the balance.
Now it will fly … Here it goes … Pull in the string … Now let it go!
You can hardly see it … the tail looks tiny and you can’t see the hats at all …
I would like to be as high up as that kite …
Maybe you will still grow, wait.
Korczak, Summer Camp, p 178.
A Transparent Children's Home in the Mountains of Lebanon
In "The Ghetto Years" Korczak tells of a vision he had when he was ill with typhus: "I am giving an address in a huge theater or concert hall… I speak in Polish… And then there is a shower of bank notes, gold and jewelry. … So I shall come into unlimited material means and shall open a contest for the construction of a huge orphanage in the hills of Lebanon, near Kfar Giladi. It will have large barracks-like dining rooms and dormitories. There will also be 'hermit huts'. For myself on the terrace of a flat roof I will have one room, not too large, with transparent walls, so that I might not miss a single sunrise or sunset and so that, writing at night, I might be able to look now and again at the stars." Korczak, The Ghetto Years, pp. 119-120
Adults can also Have Wings
Adults think that children spend their time wandering around aimlessly, talking about nothing in particular, and they foresee the future and even argue over its finer points. Adults would simply say that people will never have wings. I have been an adult and I say they can indeed have wings. Korczak, When I am Little Again, p 55
