Yael of Israel — The Girl Who Notices What Others Miss
Yael of Israel — The Girl Who Notices What Others Miss
Yael of Israel — The Girl Who Notices What Others Miss
Age: 10 Region: Middle East
Yael notices things.
Not important things.
At least, not things that seem important at first.
She notices that the smallest cat on the kibbutz has started sleeping beneath a different tree.
She notices that someone moved the blue bench outside the dining hall approximately half a meter to the left.
She notices when her father gets a haircut.
This alone makes her more observant than most members of her family.
And Yael notices flowers.
Not in the poetic way adults talk about noticing flowers.
She knows which ones weren't there yesterday.
One morning she stops so suddenly on the path that her brother nearly walks into her.
“What?”
She points.
Three red poppies have opened beside the path.
“So?”
“They weren't there yesterday.”
Her brother looks at them.
Then at Yael.
“They're flowers.”
“I know.”
“You've seen flowers before.”
Yael sighs.
This is the problem with her brother.
He notices things only after someone points at them.
Yael crouches beside the poppies.
Yesterday there had been tightly closed buds.
Today there are three brilliant red flowers.
Tomorrow there might be more.
She decides she'll check.
And she does.
Because once Yael notices something, she tends to remember it.
Which is probably why, if you've lost something on the kibbutz, you should ask Yael.
This is not an official position.
Yael does not have an office.
She does, however, have a cardboard box.
Written across the front in blue marker are the words:
THINGS THAT BELONG TO PEOPLE WHO SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL
Her mother made her cross out the last five words.
Yael crossed them out.
They remain completely readable.
The box sits on a shelf near the door and currently contains one gardening glove, two hair clips, a water bottle, a child's sandal, three keys that apparently open nothing, a tiny plastic dinosaur and one earring.
There is also a spoon.
Nobody knows why.
Things have a way of traveling on a kibbutz.
A sweater left on a bench moves to the dining hall.
A soccer ball rolls into someone's garden.
Someone borrows a tool, gives it to someone else, and three days later four adults are standing around discussing the whereabouts of a shovel.
Yael finds this astonishing.
“How do grown-ups lose a shovel?”
Her father shrugs.
“It happens.”
“It is taller than I am.”
This does not seem to matter.
Yael notices the blue scarf hanging over the back of a chair after everyone leaves.
She remembers Tamar was wearing it earlier.
She sees a library book sitting beside the garden and knows exactly which boy abandoned it because she saw him reading it yesterday.
She knows the red bicycle usually belongs beside the third building, not the fifth.
And she remembers the animals.
Especially the cats.
According to most people, there are approximately seven cats around the kibbutz.
According to Yael, there are eleven...
Her Dream: Yael doesn't know exactly what she'll become yet. She only knows she wants to do something where paying close attention can help animals—or people—who cannot always explain what they need.
Her Wonder: “How much can you learn just by noticing what everyone else walks past?”
Discover Yael’s complete story in Girls Wear Crowns: Dreams Without Limits.
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