There is something endearing about the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, more particularly the one revolving around a group of misfits.
First we have Rudolph, a reindeer born with a red nose. In an attempt to help him fit in his father covers the nose, helping it to look like everyone else’s. Next we have a sweet little elf, Hermie, who is no good at making toys. He does, however, have a passion for dentistry. None of his friends understand this passion and he ends up feeling left out.
These two misfits find one another and decide they’ll be independent, find their own way in life. Along their travels they meet a few other folks who don’t quite fit in, and even land on the Land of Misfit Toys. Thinking they’ve finally found a place where acceptance was plausible, Rudolph and his friends are gravely disappointed when even among a land full of misfits they don’t fit in. After all, they aren’t toys.
It’s a story I think every person can relate to. At one time or another most, if not all, of us have felt like a misfit. Whether it has to do with the way we look, talk, think, or dream something has made us feel different from everyone else. I recall as a child I certainly did not want to feel different.
I have red hair. I’ve had it all my life. It wasn’t until I reached high school that I learned to love it. Before then it just made me ‘different,’ and different wasn’t good. By the time I was in sixth grade I had added a rather bad haircut, a good fifteen pounds, glasses, and the shiniest set of train-tracks ever to be settled on one’s teeth (translation: braces). Have you all got a fantastic picture in your heads?
Strangely enough it wasn’t my weight, or my glasses, or my braces that other kids made fun of. It wasn’t even my haircut. It was just the color of my hair. I realize now most of their teasing stemmed from jealousy. Most adults loved my hair and had no problem proclaiming it to anyone and everyone who would listen. While there was a special part of me that relished in their kind words, most of me resented what happened as a result.
For a long time I wanted to dye my hair black. I thought if it was black I wouldn’t get teased, but shades of ‘Anne of Green Gables’ haunted this idea. It was bad enough being teased for having red hair. I couldn’t imagine what would happen if a botched dye job turned it green.
It took years for me to love my hair. Now I couldn’t imagine doing anything to change it. The funny thing is I still stand out in a crowd, but now I don’t mind. It wasn’t my hair that changed, rather how I looked at it.
Now I watch as my own darling little ones are getting teased, making them feel different. For one or two of these kids it’s not too big a deal. My four-year old hates it beyond words. It affects him deeply to have mean words thrown his way, especially as he tries so hard to be nice to others. My oldest has attempted to become more like her friends in an effort to fit in. It doesn’t seem to stop, no matter what generation you’re looking at.
One of my most favorite stories of Christ comes from the Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Christ. In 3 Nephi chapter 17 we are well into the story of the resurrected Christ and his visit to his ‘other sheep‘ in the Americas. At one point he asks for all the little children to be brought to him.
Beginning in verse 21 we read:
” And when he had done this he wept again; And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones. And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.”
Can you imagine how precious those little children must have been to have warranted a special blessing from Christ upon every one, and then to have angels come down to minister to them? We are all just as precious in the sight of the Lord. If only every one of our children today could think of themselves as being just as special, of knowing every thing that makes us different, truly makes us special. Indeed they can know this, if parents will only give constant reminders. It is in the home that children can find themselves lifted up after the world has tried to bring them down.
For anyone who hasn’t ever seen Rudolph, I’m happy to report it all works out in the end. Santa realizes Rudolph’s nose comes in extremely handy during those foggy nights. Hermie lands a job as the ultimate dentist to the elves. Even the hoards of misfit toys eventually find homes.
Let your child know that even though he or she may feel like a misfit now, there will come a time when all those things that make us feel so different will eventually help us find out why we’re so needed in this crazy world.
