Eamonn (child)

Do you like stories? Is it okay if I tell you a story?

Buzzo was a squirrel. He was small and quick.

Buzzo was a brown squirrel, not a red one. Buzzo's mommy and daddy were red squirrels. In fact, every grownup Buzzo knew was a red squirrel, and all of the baby squirrels were brown.

But sometimes, when Buzzo's mommy and daddy looked at him, he looked like he was black.

Other times, Buzzo looked like he might be green.

If Mommy and Daddy looked at him just right at night, though, Buzzo looked like he might be red.

One day, Buzzo was very sad. He told his Mommy, "Mommy, I don't belong. The only other brown squirrels are us kids. And even though I love them all very much, I wish sometimes that I was more like you."

Buzzo's Mommy picked him up and sat Buzzo in her lap. She said, "Buzzo, dearest. You are the handsomest little Brown Squirrel I've ever seen.

"Sometimes, you are a lovely shade of green.

"Other times, you are a handsome black.

"At times, you look red, just like me.

"No matter what color you are, no matter how often you seem to change, there's one thing I always know."

Buzzo was very curious. "What is that, Mommy?"

And Mommy replied, "Buzzo, dearest. No matter what color you are, you are always Buzzo, and I always love you."

And Buzzo was very happy. He no longer needed to be like the grown ups, because he was accepted, no matter what color he was.

And so are you.