YOU THINK YOU ARE REAL?
Someone shared this with me and I had to share it with ya'll. True, this is from a children's story and we all all "grown". However, the symbolism is beautiful. Being "real" isn't just about speaking your mind (no matter how foolish). It's not about being loud and demanding. Being real is about vulnerability, love, and losing the fear of being hurt in the process. And to all the people hollering about being real and keeping it real--these stuffed animals probably know more about it than you. Enjoy!VELVETEEN RABBIT
by Margery Williams
(this starts at the point when the Skin Horse and the Rabbit are talking)
by Margery Williams
(this starts at the point when the Skin Horse and the Rabbit are talking)
The Skin Horse had lived longer in the nursery than any of the others. He was so old and most of the hairs in his tail had been pulled out to string bead necklaces. For nursery magic is very strange and wonderful, and only those playthings that are old and wise and experienced like the Skin Horse understand all about it.
"What is REAL?" asked the Rabbit one day, when they were lying side by side near the nursery fender, before Nana came to tidy the room. "Does it mean having things that buzz inside you and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in your joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
"I suppose you are real?" said the Rabbit. And then he wished he had not said it, for he thought the Skin Horse might be sensitive. But the Skin Horse only smiled.
"The Boy's Uncle made me Real," he said. "That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always."
The Rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He longed to become Real, to know what it felt like; and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him.
posted by Dayne Avery @ 8:22 AM
15 Comments:
I actually read this story as a kid in the late 80s.
Nice find.
Very interesting...
Yeah...I'm officially real. LOL
alright, ALRIGHT!!!
Dayne you always amaze me with ur post. Thanks for the last comment on my blog. I need to have a talk wit McDonalds on that 1.
wow... cute story but oh so true
Loved the story and agree with your prologue on being real. I don't comment often on your blog but I do love reading them.
Thank you SIR DAYNE
Really, THANK YOU
That was a lovely story. It is sort of a metaphor for living life, and loving and being loved. Being real encompasses so much of experiencing all the highs and lows of just being I guess.
I had a post like this about two weeks ago. There is a price on being whomever you choose to be.
WOW!!! Loved it.
so good so very good.
I don't think I've read that story before, but may have heard of it. Might have to pick that up and add to the library.
I hope I'm real!
i think i still got that wabbit
Very nice!
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