Monday, August 15, 2011

Real


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"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..."...

"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful...

"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 the 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."

-The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams

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3 comments:

Nancy said...

Liz, I love it...one of my very favorites...and it's so true.
Some never get to that point of being real but for me it's not an option.. If one gets to the end of life and has not been real then they have missed the boat.....

Thank you so much for your sweet and precious comments. They blessed me beyond measure....

Have a great week sweet friend,
Nancy

Jennifer Richardson said...

One of my absolute favorite children's stories
so chock full of wisdom
it makes my heart twirl
....real is so very, very beautiful
on you:)
-Jennifer

Joy said...

Kind of like when you finally become a Granny? All soft and squishy, with a friendly lap to sit on, and warm arms to hold you near? When our eyes begin to fade, and our bones begin to creak. We move slower and we are quite lovely and very real to a grandchild's eyes. Like that?