A very short story celebrating our differences

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This is a short story about being different that I would like to share.

Flying Rabbits, Swimming Eagles

Once upon a time, the animals decided they should do something meaningful to meet the problems of the new world. So they organized a school.

They adopted an activity curriculum of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer the curriculum, all the animals took all the subjects.

The duck was excellent at swimming; in fact, better than his instructor. But he made only passing grades in flying, and was very poor at running. Since he was slow in running, he had to drop swimming and stay after school to practice running. This caused his web feet to be badly worn, so that he was only average in swimming. But average was quite acceptable so nobody worried about that--except the duck.

The rabbit started at the top of his class in running, but developed a nervous twitch in his leg muscles because of so much make-up work in swimming.

The squirrel was excellent in climbing, but he encountered constant frustration in flying class because his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down. He developed "charlie horses" from overexertion, and so only got a C in climbing and a D in running.

The eagle was a problem child and was severely disciplined for being a non-conformist. In climbing he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his way to get there . . . .

A duck is a duck--and only a duck. It is built to swim, not to run or fly and certainly not to climb. A squirrel is a squirrel--and only that. To move it out of its forte, climbing, and then expect it to swim or fly will drive a squirrel, nuts. Eagles are beautiful creatures in the air but not in a foot race. The rabbit will win every time unless, of course, the eagle gets hungry.

There's plenty of room in the forest.

loved it! did u jus come up with that story randomly?

Wow, great story, and proves a good point. I like it.

Hello again. It's great to see you here.

I was thinking about you when I was posting this story.

I'm not the author of this but it did bring me to tears when I heard it.

hhehehe, u should write ur own story ur prob come up with good ideas!

Aww, I thought you wrote this story, too. I agree, you should write your own!

Thanks, that's nice of you.

I was very moved with the accounts of the duck, squirrel and rabbit and thought they described my experiences very well.

Then just when I thought the story was over (this story was being read out loud when I discovered it) I heard MY story, the Eagle.

and yes there is LOTS of room for all of us in the forest.

That reminds me of a movie that I saw, back in 1993, at the age of 18. The name of the movie is 'Animals are Beautiful People', and it showed how each animal had their personality. It was really quite neat.

Thanks Mick, I just had a look on You Tube.

I remember the segment about the animals getting drunk from eating the rotting fruit, I enjoyed that first time round too.

Excellent story. Now if only real life people and schools would start recognizing that.

Maybe we can celebrate our unique differences here on WP, as a whole, and set an example for the world.

Just an idea.

Nice idea Cockney Rebel.

It just needs a little tolerance and respect; which I think is something that most here can appreciate.

I don't share everyone's special interests here but I have found some special interests on WP that I don't share a special interest in, to be quite interesting none the less.

I also admire the courage of those with special interests to share them with the WP forum when sometimes (at best) their special interest information seems to be ignored and at worst results in a posting that is less than sensitive.

Thanks for your insights into the 60s and the Kink, I'll be looking at their lyrics from time.