You remember that story about the ugly little duckling? The one who was small and unattractive then grew up to be a beautiful swan? I always assumed the moral of that particular story was one of hope for the outcasts in schools across Australia. "You may not be very impressive at the moment, son, but one day you'll grow up to be a magnificent swan!" they'd tell you. I was thinking about this today while driving a forklift, which doesn't really seem to mesh very well but there you have it. In fact I write most of my nonsense ramblings in my head while doing rather more practical things.
Consider the position of the ugly ducking/swan. He may have been an unsightly little creature who eventually grew to eclipse his brothers and sisters in beauty threefold, but the truth is he always was a swan. It was only through misunderstanding that he was mistaken for a duck in the first place. The mother duck assumed the egg was hers because it was sitting under her arse. Of course had the swan grown up with it's biological family, he still would have been beautiful, but possibly no more so than the rest of his siblings.
I can't help but think that he old nursery rhyme strengthens the concept that special people, weather they be pretty, smart or otherwise advantaged over the rest of us, are born and not made.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
