Most people had read the story of the ugly duckling since young. Perhaps it was supposed to mean that it takes time for something to become beautiful.
Why didn’t anyone realise the main point of the story is not to become beautiful? It wasn’t about being able to fit in with the beautiful swans.
The story was about a duckling who was discriminated for his looks. It was about a duck who rather die than to stay ugly.
It was telling us that ugly is something to be fixed if you want to be accepted by the judgemental society.
If only the story said that the other animals accepted him as who he was, instead of saying he was accepted because he turned into a swan.
This story was my hope for many years. In my early teenage years I wanted to be like the ugly duckling. I wished all the time that one day, I would wake up and become a swan. This way, those animals that laughed because the duck was ugly, would shut up, mind their own business or maybe, accept me.
He now felt glad at having suffered sorrow and trouble, because it enabled him to enjoy so much better all the pleasure and happiness around him
The ugly duckling was a children story, but it stuck with me for years. It gave me hope that I’ve lost over a period of time. That glimpse of hope that perhaps I could be like the ugly duckling kept me going.
The story never said what happened to the now-swan afterwards.
Perhaps he now realised, being a swan wasn’t what he wanted after all.
His own image; no longer a dark, grey bird, ugly and disagreeable to look at, but a graceful and beautiful swan.
The ugly duckling was never ugly. The ugly ones are the animals who couldn’t accept his appearance.
There was nothing wrong with being dark.
There was nothing wrong with being grey.
And there is nothing disagreeable to look at, except for a darkened heart.
The animals were the one who was wrong, but the duckling suffered.
The duckling enjoyed happiness because he turned into a swan, not because the others treated him nicely the way he is. Yet this is how our society is.
Everyone wants to see the swan. Nobody is interested in the process of becoming a swan. Humans appreciate the beautiful end, not the ugly process.
I never dreamed of such happiness as this, while I was an ugly duckling.
And soon the swan will realise, being the ugly duckling had its advantages too. The swan will realise the wish he wished for so long, may have got him friends, but not many are true friends. Because there was nobody by his side when he was at his lowest.
I’m thankful for the friends I had while I was a super ugly duckling. And I think from now on, I’ll stay like an ugly duckling. Because that was what I am supposed to be, and that is comfortable.
The society is ugly. It wasn’t the duck. It was everyone around the duck.
