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UU Faith Works Summer/Fall 2003 Administration
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If the Ugly Duckling Had Been a Unitarian Universalist
Rev. Darcey Laine
UU Church of Palo Alto
Palo Alto, CA
I think most of you probably know a story about a family of ducks, where all of the children were yellow and fluffy, except one, that was sort of a subdued earth tone with a long skinny neck. He was not very attractive by duck standards; so they called him … yell it out if you know!
Well, I can't help but wonder what would have happened if those ducks had gone to the kind of church where the children's teacher might have heard the mean things they were saying to that different looking duck, and said:
“You don't have to be yellow to be beautiful;
A long skinny neck is just as beautiful as a short, thick one.
But more importantly, Dave, the one you call the ugly duckling, is caring and funny and helps take care of the lake he lives in.
His outsides don't really tell you much about who he is.
And even though all of you are yellow and fluffy,
That doesn't mean you are all the same inside.
Why don't we share something that makes us different and special.”
And maybe then the ducks would have understood how important it is that each person is unique.
The moral of my story was best said by one of my professors, Elis Farajaje-Jones, “We want to create a world where everyone is able to discover and define and live by who they are, who they are becoming, with the option to change several times throughout the course of their lives. Now that's revolutionary religious education!”
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