First Letter From the Lioness

I'm writing you because somebody has to do something. Somebody has to fix the world. Since you are the most powerful man in the United States, maybe in the world, I think you should tell the people what they should do.

My name was Lizzy Winchester before the friends came. Now they call me the "Lioness". I am not Lizzy anymore. That girl is dead. The man who says he is her father killed her. I do not talk but I can write and so I will.

Mr. President, I want you to know that the magic in your world is gone...all the magic is gone...none is left; and if all the magic is gone from people, then they will die. I want you to tell the people that they can bring the magic back.

I read books Mr. President. I know about times before this. I have studied history. I know about times when there were heroes and great deeds and magic was in the world. Now it is gone. I don't want the people to die so I am writing you, so you can tell them they can live, if they only bring back the magic.

The magic is gone because everybody believes the lies. These are lies that people believe in their bodies, down deep, not in their heads. Many grownups think they are too smart to believe in these lies but I have watched them and I see how they act. That is how you can tell what people really believe. The people believe these lies from a long time ago. I don't know who started them, or why people believe in the lies, but I know who is going to stop them. I am.

Please write this down.

1. There is a lie that says people don't matter. That lie tells all the people that, no matter what they do, it won't make a difference. This is not true. With every step we change the earth. With every breath we change the air. With what they believe, people have created everything from war and peace to hate and love, from the greatest horror to the the most wondrous beauty, . We all change the world into what we think it is, into what we see, even if we do not know it.

The whole, big world is lost to you grownups because you have forgotten the magic. You see only what you want to see and have forgotten how to dream. The truth is, people can do anything just by believing in their dreams. Dreams are magic and the whole, big world is magic in its heart. When people can't feel the magic, they think they don't matter. It makes them weak and sad. When people are weak and sad, they hurt each other. Someone should tell them that they are magic and strong, not weak. Then they will not hurt each other.

2. There is the lie that says people are more important than the world. That is a lie. People come from the world, not the world from people. If you think this is not true, then make another world. When you do that, I will walk over, look at your new world, and see that you are as important as you say. If you can't, then you shouldn't treat trees and streams and animals like you are more important than they are. They are alive. The whole, big world is alive. It has feelings. The other living things were here first. You will die without them.

I can't talk but I can see. I can see the magic in the world. Mostly, you grownups cannot. If you don't start paying attention, the world may get tired of you and show you how important you really are. When you are dead, maybe you can explain to God how you are so important.

3. There is the lie that people should be the way other people think they should. That is silly. Things are what they are. It doesn't matter what you think about them. If I think a cat should be a dog, it will still say "meow". The sun goes down when it is ready, not when I get tired and want it to be dark. You adults think if you close your eyes that the sun goes down. No, you are just blind and can't see the sun. You keep trying to make the world be what you want it to be instead of what it is. Flowers are beautiful and they smell nice. If you are busy thinking a flower should be a tree, you will never stoop down and notice how sweet it smells. If people would just be themselves, then maybe they would let everything else be itself. That would be the end of a big lie.

4. There is the lie that people are alone. I believed that one for a long time. I believed the man who says he is my father, when he said I was alone, that no one would ever help me, that nobody cared. Now I know that it was a lie. He wanted me to believe like him. He wanted me to hurt like him, to think nobody can love me. Now I know it's not true. My lion loves me. My friend loves me. The other children love me. The trees and the wind and the water in the lake, the pebbles on the ground and the birds in the sky, the worms and the snakes, the dewdrops on the grass in the morning, the rain when it falls, the sun and the moon above, all love me and I love them back. I will never be alone.

Even when I die, when everything I know is gone, when my lion and my friends and the grass and everything is dead, even if God is a lie and he is not there, I will still not be alone because I can love myself. I can hug my own heart. I can kiss my dreams. I am the heart of the world. I am a piece of the light from the sun and I will always shine.

When you tell your lies, I will shine on you and it will cast a shadow. People cannot see your lies but they can see the shadow. That will tell them that there is a sun, that there is truth, that a person can matter and be loved and not have to be alone and living in the dark.

So Mr. President, watch out for my shadow because the world is going to be true to itself. The lying is almost over.

I know you are bigger than us. In your world, the biggest and strongest always gets his way. Since you are the biggest and strongest, you think this means you will have your way. You are wrong. We children are part of the whole, big world. You are not. You have made a little world just for yourselves. In the whole, big world, magic rules and everything grows. My magic is growing. My light is bright. My shadow will soon cover your little world.

Look out.

The Lioness