QUOTE : Tedros turned away. 'I don't like being hurt.'<br />'Who is hurting you?'<br />'No one.' He swallowed. 'I'm okay.'<br />'You're lucky, then, because I fell quite hurt myself.'<br />He looked back at me. 'You do? Where are you hurt?'<br />'Here,' I said, my hand on my heart.<br />'Oh.' He nodded. 'Who hurt you?'<br />'Someone I loved very much,' I said. <br />Tedros nodded. 'Me too.' He sniffled and curled into a bean shape, his back against my knee. 'When does the hurt go away?'<br />'Once you make friends with it. Once you come to see the hurt not as something to fear or run away from, but as an important part of you. As important as love and hope and happiness. All of them are pieces of you heart, each as important as the other. But ignoring the hurt or pretending it's not there doesn't make it go away. It just means that you're not using all of your heart. Soon that piece might even dry up and break away. We don't want that. A strong king needs all of his heart. And the funny thing is, once you're bold enough to welcome the hurt, to give it a hug and face it unafraid... then suddenly, it's gone.