BECOMING THE REAL YOU

From FOCUS ON THE FAMILY

VOICES Thursday July 10 2008 TODAY

 

By Dr James Dobson

 

Who are you when no one else is looking? When the curtains are drawn and the lights go dim? Are you and I the people everyone thinks we are?

 

The classic children’s book The Velveteen Rabbit holds within its pages a powerful message about being real. In one scene, we eavesdrop on a dialogue between a new toy rabbit and an old horse. They’re lying side-by-side in the nursery as the rabbit asks the horse what it means to be real. “Well, it doesn’t happen all at once,” said the horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily or have sharp edges or have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you’re real, most of your hair has fallen off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But you see, these things don’t matter at all, because once you’re real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

 

Take a long look at yourself in the mirror. Are you a real person? Do people see the real you when you greet them or are they merely seeing one of the many masks that you wear? Becoming real is difficult, but the rewards far outweigh the pain. Remember the words of the old horse: “Once you’re real, you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”