"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 often happen 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."
Source: The Velveteen Rabbit
7 comments:
Thanks Heidi! I'm reading Richard Rohr's Falling Upward and in the introduction he talks about the very same thing. I'm preaching tomorrow and this quote fits well.
<3 RR!!! so glad to help! do you record your talks/post internet? would love to hear it!
I'm sad that you don't get to read stories like this to the kidlets this fall... but grateful that you're channeling that here.
"because once you are Real, you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand." That line always completely undoes me.
(I happen to be reading Falling Upward too at the moment... funny :)
my favorite is the one that i put in italics "That's why it doesn't often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept." - makes me glad I am not one of those kind of people :) I REALLY need to read Falling Upward.
we chose to have this passage read at our wedding by my dearly beloved "father figure" ... it was beautiful.
i love that idea renee - keith & i are working on renewing our vows at the end of september for our 25th wedding anniversary - will keep this in mind
it doesn't happen all at once...you become...it takes a long time
the journey of becoming real
in a nutshell
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