Fintan's aesthetic view of the world.

Fintan, seven, and Ainan, ten, share not only brotherhood, but a passion for cars. Today, Fintan and Ainan were looking at Youtube videos of high performance cars in action around various famous tracks. They were monitoring the cars, not only for performance, but, surprisingly, perhaps, in boys, beauty. They were comparing the beauty of the cars.

They had been at this for some hour or so, when Fintan made a remark that I think shall always stick with me:

"The nicest thing ever made, is a human."

He said it with such certainty, as if the realization had crystallized into something indestructible, at that moment.

"Why do you say that, Fintan?", I asked, quietly, in a manner so as not to disturb the mood that had given rise to the remark.

"Because this car is not nice, around the base, here...". He looked at the car, critically and said again what he had said: "The nicest thing ever made is the human."

I thought this a very meaningful insight, of Fintan's. He sees the beauty that man makes, and finds it wanting set against the beauty of Man himself. This is, I think, a very beautiful thought and one that I am happy my second son has had.

Perhaps sometimes, it is easy to forget just what a wonder is Man himself. For Fintan, there is nothing more beautiful in all the world, than the human. I think, in having that thought, Fintan proves himself to be one human with a beautiful heart and mind.