Posted by TerryS (198.133.22.69) on March 21, 2001 at 02:26:16:
Are You Real?
>
> I assume that you have heard of the story the
> Velveteen Rabbit. If you have not, it is the story of
> a little stuffed bunny rabbit who dreams of being
> Real. To his owner, a small boy, the rabbit is
> perceived to be Real, because the Boy loves him so
> much. He gets older and shabbier but is content with
> knowing the Boy believes he is a Real rabbit. When the
> boy falls ill with scarlet fever and the velveteen
> rabbit must be thrown away, a fairy comes and tells
> him that because of the boy's love for him, he could
> now be turned into a physically real rabbit.
>
> Why I mention this tale I explain now: I am a junior
> in high - school, and one day during my semester exams
> I was rather tired and depressed. It had been a long,
> wearying week and I needed to talk with someone,
> anyone... just to get my mind off of the tests, which
> I was sure I had done poorly on.
>
> So, after school, I walked down to the student
> personnel services office, and sat down with one of
> the counselors. He was a real blast to hang out with,
> and every student liked him. When we began to talk, I
> realized my heart really wasn't in the conversation.
> My mind wandered back to the exams... to a doctors
> appointment I had the week before -- anything but the
> cheerful subject we were speaking of.
>
> He paused in conversation and looked at me. We began
> talking now of more serious subjects: a few health
> problems that I have, a fight I had with my mother the
> day before -- things that were bothering me. After a
> few minutes of this, he asked me a very strange
> question.
>
> "Do you think you are real?"
>
> I was taken aback. What could he possibly meant by
> that? I pressed him for an explanation, and what he
> said was basically, he was hearing all of the things
> that had an impact on me, but really didn't hear about
> things that I was taking part in or making a
> difference in. He likened it to the story of the
> Velveteen Rabbit: did i think that I was real to the
> people around me, and most importantly to myself.
>
> To my surprise, I found it very hard to answer his
> question instantly or honestly. A few months later,
> and I am still thinking about it. It made me wonder
> that, if I couldn't tell if I was "real" or not, what
> other people believed about me.
>
> It makes you think: Do you have enough of an effect on
> the world around you as you would like to?
>
> -Author Unknown