I wonder how many of us set out
when we’re young to become Real in the Velveteen Rabbit sense of the word? Few, I suppose. Youth steps high and marches
to the drumbeat of vitality, thinking a mixture of spirit, vigor, and independence to be the ultimate
reality. Young people don’t give much
thought to what it means to be Real.
Becoming Real is a slow process,
and yet worth the wait. As the Skin
Horse says, it can sometimes take a lifetime for love to rub long and hard enough to shed whatever is
unreal, or surreal, or otherwise false.
“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.”
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