Duck in the Mirror

Life changes such as diseases/illnesses, accidents, crime victimizations, natural disasters, injuries from wars, disabilities, etc. can leave some people with new physical, mental and emotional changes. Some in our society are so cruel that they laugh, insult, and mock people dealing with such changes and to the person experiencing the non pleasant behaviors and words of others, there is a deep hurt many can not understand.Take a journey with Dianne, a beautiful duck from a beautiful family who finds herself disfigured by a fisherman's hook that tears her beak apart. Friends and family alike begin to see her as ugly and as a result, so does Dianne herself. A beaver from another part of the forest who has been watching Dianne befriends her and she follows to the part of the forest where others live who are more loving. There she enters a new world of self discovery and self love. She learns she can see her new scars as beauty or as ugly and she chooses to embrace them as beautiful.The story is one so many face. I faced it when dealing with weight, hair loss and lash loss as a result from cancer treatment. Those closest to me were some of the same ones whose words cut me just as much as the whispering words I would hear from strangers I passed by often. Took me some time but I, too, had to remember the only thing that matters is how I feel about myself and how I love myself. This story is to encourage others that no matter what is on the outside, true beauty is within. It is to encourage others to remember scars and appearance are testimony that you survived whatever you have had to endure. This story is also for others to realize that laughter and negative words spoken can penetrate deeply and hurt another.