The Ordinary Flower

This past week I found myself staring at the wall of my office wondering why I was working so hard to do everything I’m doing. Was it worth it?  Was there a point to it all?  The bottom line is I was feeling exhausted and down; it was just one of those times.  To help my mood a friend recommended I read The Giving Tree, which is a popular children’s book I was able to find.  It, unfortunately, had the opposite effect on me; it was terrible.  Thus, I decided to write something that could make me feel better when I was down, a feeling that is guaranteed to happen every once in awhile.  It’s about finding your positive personal truth despite how things may appear or what others may say.  Hopefully this story can be as uplifting for you as it has been for me.

The Ordinary Flower

On an ordinary street, at an ordinary house, was an ordinary garden where an ordinary flower grew.  Inside the ordinary house were some extraordinary looking flowers who continually taunted the ordinary flower: “If you were special, you’d be in here with us.”  Every day it was the same thing; the extraordinary looking flowers would taunt: “If you were special, you’d be in here with us.”  And the ordinary flower wished he was; he wished he was special and inside with them.  He wished he was special every time the storms came because they were such a challenge to endure.  He wished he was special every time a bee or hummingbird used him for his pollen.  He wished he was special every time people stuck their noses in him to smell his fragrance, or when they would break off one of his blossoms to keep.  He wished he was special every day until…  For some reason, when the extraordinary looking flowers said: “If you were special, you’d be in here with us,” the ordinary flower looked at them, and was like something clicked in his brain.  He suddenly realized they may be comfortable and safe, but their life was sad.  Their life was boring.  It was then that the ordinary flower realized he was special because when the storms came they helped him grow to be stronger.  He was special because the bees and hummingbirds chose him for his pollen.  He was special because people wanted to smell his fragrance and take his blossoms since they liked him.  The ordinary flower smiled.  He was special; those other flowers were wrong.  He had been wrong.  Suddenly the ordinary flower found himself correcting the extraordinary looking flowers: “Whether you think I’m special doesn’t matter because I know I am.  You may look extraordinary, but I have an extraordinary life.”  He then explained why he was lucky to have the life he had.  Some of the extraordinary looking flowers turned their metaphorical noses at him, but others listened.  Some of the extraordinary looking flowers thought the ordinary flower was crazy, but others became his friends.  Instead of taunting him, the extraordinary looking flowers realized how extraordinary their new friend was, and they realized this because the ordinary flower first realized this for himself.  After all this time, the ordinary flower realized he was special the whole time; he just needed to see things differently, and that made all the difference.