I witnessed a scene the other day at a children's music school. A little girl went out of a classroom door with tears in her eyes. She looked upset, I thought - no big deal, maybe a bad grade or something. But apparently she was trying to hold back until she left the classroom. Because when the girl stepped into the corridor, she really burst into tears. Her cry was so loud, it really drowned out all the sounds of Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, coming from behind the closed doors of other classrooms. Next moment the poor girl was sobbing uncontrollably in her mother's arms, not capable of uttering a single word. All the parents of other kids started gathering around, comforting her as best they could. Soon we had quite an audience: the receptionist lady waddled to the scene from the floor below, even the janitor came up from the street  to see what happened.

To be honest I was half expecting the police turning up for all this racket. Everyone was, of course, trying to find out what could possibly have caused this girl's outburst of grief and sorrow. Most of the people were inclined to think that the poor child must have pinched my finger with a piano lid, or tripped and hurt her toe. But she looked perfectly sound: no visible injuries, not one crease on her dress, not a crumple on her bow. Just a lovely little girl crying her eyes out. Maybe some mean kid hurt her? Is she being bullied? We were completely at a loss for what happened to her.

The mystery was explained to us by the piano teacher. She did not immediately understand where this crying was coming from, drowning out all the scales and arpeggios. But when she did, she came running into the corridor too. 

It turns out the crying little girl was working on a difficult piano piece. She practiced it at home all week, trying very hard, wanting to get everything just right.

But instead of just the "B" note she was playing. "B flat". You understand the situation, right? The girl played "B flat" for a week, but it was necessary to play "B". And when the mistake was discovered, the drama broke out!

When everything was resolved, all the people in the corridor began to cry looking at the girl. And even the old janitor's eyes were moist. Think about that - all the pain and suffering just for a meaningless mistake. She missed half a step - literally, one wrong move of a finger. And look how the whole world of a little lady had collapsed around a tiny difference of a few hertz. 

The thing I wanted to say in this story is: only the children can feel so strongly for their mistakes. We have long been coarsened in errors of various scales. Modern adult life has taught us – "don't regret anything", "don't ask for anything" and – the extreme degree of our callousness - "don't care about anything". Sometimes we say these words to ourselves and others, not just thoughtlessly, but to calm ourselves down. They serve as a word of comfort.

Just think how everything has changed since the time we were kids. We used to cry over a wrong musical note, and now we successfully persuade ourselves not to give a hang. Isn't this a fatal metamorphosis?

It seems that the biblical words "be like children" contain not only the meaning of accepting the world with open eyes. Hidden in these words is a childish experience of a mistake, an understanding of guilt and a feeling of remorse. Something from this set is definitely not enough for us if we, having made a mistake in relation to ourselves, to others and just to our business, say – "I don't care!". We say that, and they cry. This is a difference that shouldn't be there.