I finally found myself in the final
class of the final course in the final degree in which I had enrolled. And
oddly enough, our professor filled up the final moments reading from a
children’s book, “The Velveteen Rabbit.”
“’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. ‘But 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.’”
Of course, as our professor read the
passage from the book, the entire class wondered what the significance was of
her having chosen this particular volume from which to read.
The teacher culminated the reading
with a few pertinent remarks.
“Dear students. There are times when
you will struggle to maintain your equilibrium, and wonder if you have chosen
the right career field. There are times when life will beat you down, and
you’ll wonder if it’s all worth it. Becoming real is a process, and the path to
becoming real is filled with uncertainty and even danger. But I can assure you
that once you are real, really real, you will never again wish to return to
your former condition.”
(to be continued)
By
William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "(Mc)Donald's Daily Diary" Vol. 48. Copyright pending
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If you would like to see the titles and access hundreds of my blogs from 2015, do the following:
Click on 2015 in the index to the right of this blog. When my December 31st blog, "The Shot Must Choose You" appears, click on the title. All my 2015 blog titles will come up in the right margin
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