What if we had the power to make the world a better place with one simple invention—one powered by kindness? Leonardo’s imaginative and inspiring work takes us into a world where children’s creativity becomes a force for change, and kindness becomes the fuel that overcomes all injustice. Through the story of the “Happiness Builder,” Leonardo reminds us that even the most beautiful changes begin with small, sincere acts and the belief that each of us can contribute to a more just and happier world for all children.
Read Leonardo’s work and dip into a powerful story that reminds us that children’s voices, imagination, and courage have the power to question the world as we know it and spark change toward a more just and humane reality.
A World Without Borders: How I Imagine a More Just World for All Children
Unfortunately, we have many problems with irresponsible and unkind people who make our world unsafe. We constantly hear news about terrible things—crime, wars, hunger, and pollution. I started thinking about how terrible things are happening to children around the world. That’s probably why I dreamed that I had built a special magical machine. I called it the Happiness Builder.
The machine was powered by good deeds and human kindness, which served as its fuel. I created one large tube into which all the positive energy from kindness, care, and generosity flowed. It gave the Happiness Builder great power. It was a special power that drew out evil from all over the world and destroyed it. It transformed it into green forests or singing birds. Sometimes it turned it into delicious food or colorful toys. From one war, it created the biggest and most fun park for children. The machine turned all weapons into large slides and colorful carousels where children could laugh and enjoy themselves. It gathered all the tears around the world into great, beautiful waterfalls that people admired. It sucked up all the trash, plastic, and dangerous substances from nature and turned them into flowers and trees that could never wither. It stopped all fires and calmed earthquakes. It corrected all injustices and inequalities among people. It calmed all quarrels and conflicts. It protected endangered animals and removed all threats to them. It filled holes in the ozone layer with cotton candy and fixed them forever. It wiped out injustice, conflict, and chaos that were everywhere around us and replaced them with harmony and understanding. It made the world a better place for all children. Every act of kindness encouraged it to eliminate new evil.
There was a lot of work to do, and the Happiness Builder needed quite some time to thoroughly clean our world. Sometimes it would recharge more slowly and work a bit less efficiently, but I never lost faith in people. I knew that kindness would prevail and take its place on the throne as the one true queen. In my dream, years passed, and little by little the world became a more beautiful and happier place. The machine kept working, people became better, children safer and happier, the Earth greener, and peace spread everywhere. Whenever people sincerely helped one another and showed love with pure hearts, the Happiness Builder was able to chew up even the greatest evil and spit it out in some positive form.
When I woke up, the Happiness Builder disappeared into a cloud of my imagination, and my heart sank. I wished so deeply that my dream would become reality and that our world would become a more beautiful and fair place, where children’s laugh would be the most precious decoration. It is worth more than gold, diamonds, and all other material wealth. When children laugh, the whole world breathes cleaner, shines brighter, radiates more warmth, and becomes more just.
All of us together need to do good for the future of children and the well-being of the entire Earth. If we were all kind, loving, responsible, and honest, perhaps we would continue to feed some invisible Happiness Builder, which would then, just like the one in my dream, keep protecting us from evil in every form. Maybe our real world would finally shine in a brighter light of fairness, peace, and equal opportunities for children and young people. Through our actions and the way we live, we shape the world around us. Everything begins with small, brave acts: in the schoolyard, on the playground, in the classroom, in every heart that chooses to be a little warmer, a little braver, and a little fairer. I hope that one day, when enough such hearts wake up, the world will change just like in my dream. Then every child, wherever they may be, will be able to lift their eyes to the endless sky and say: “This world is mine too.”
