I was given this writing...
and it has always stayed with me...
the author is unknown to me...
but the words ring so true....
asked the rabbit one day,
when they were
laying side by side.
"Does it mean having things
that buzz inside you
and a stick-out handle?"
"Real isn't what you are made of,"
said the skin horse.
"It is a thing that happens to you.
When a child loves you
for a long time.
Not just to play with,
but REALLY loves you,
then you become real."
"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
or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once,
you become.
It takes a long time.
That is 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 are real,
most of your eyes drop out,
and you get loose at 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 those
who don't understand."