Mitsuo Aida - Importance of Innocence

Assalamualaikum,

I would like to share an excerpt from Paolo Coelho's Like the Flowing River: Meeting in the Dentsu Gallery (Pg. 177). It is a poem by Mitsuo Aida, Japanese poet and calligrapher (1921-1991) on the importance of innocence.
At first, I have so many things to talk about below poem. But I think the poem has spoken everything itself. I hope, as I am, you too can learn something from it.

Happy reading :)
Wassalam.

Because it has lived its life intensely
the parched grass still attracts the gaze of passers-by.
The flowers merely flower,
and they do this as well as they can.
The white lily, blooming unseen in the valley,
Does not need to explain itself to anyone;
It lives merely for beauty.
Men, however, cannot accept that ‘merely’.

If tomatoes wanted to be melons,
they would look completely ridiculous.
I am always amazed
that so many people are concerned
with wanting to be what they are not;
what’s the point of making yourself look ridiculous?

You don’t always have to pretend to be strong,
there’s no need to prove all the time that everything is going well,
you shouldn’t be concerned about what other people are thinking,
cry if you need to,
it’s good to cry out all your tears(because only then will you be able to smile again).