Click here to view and listen to the incomparable Ray Charles singing Kermit the Frog’s soliloquy on the difficulties of being Kermit the Frog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZJxL3PrrLM (When you finish, click the back arrow to return to the blog.)
What feelings occur for you when you listen to this song? Have you ever felt like Kermit, aware that there is something a little bit different about you? Do you ever feel like you are slightly out of step with the beat the rest of the world marches to? How easy is it to be you?
Maybe there is something about your physical appearance that makes you stand out. A nose you don’t like or a disability that keeps you off the cheerleading squad or football team. Maybe you are from a different ethnic background than the "in crowd."
Maybe you’ve had some life experiences that have left deep scars -- your parents’ divorce, the visit to bankruptcy court, the layoff notice, the sexual trauma, the phone call in the night that was the worst possible news for a parent to hear? Maybe you are from the wrong side of town.
Maybe you are too smart or too loud or too big or too short. Too much. Too little. Too something you can’t quite put your finger on.
Click on the link and listen to Ray’s performance again. As the video plays, say to Ray, to Kermit and to all the people in the world who are just a little bit different, including you – "Green is my favorite color."
2 comments:
Thanks, future mantra. I'll look it up.
Of all the Muppet characters, Margaret, Kermit was always my favorite. I felt he was somehow very vulnerable, and I loved him for it.
It may be hard lots of times to not be what we think we wish we were, but I have always believed that if we can be the best that each of us can be, how different, or for that matter similar we may be, is not the point anyhow.
Many years ago in one of my first jobs, I worked at a predominantly sterling silver store called Georg Jensen. It was world-famous and was on 51st Street and Fifth Avenue directly opposite the Stork Club. Many very famous actresses and actors emerged from the Stork in the afternoon and came over to Jensen’s to pick out a piece of silver jewelry, or something else for Jensen sold custom-made children’s clothes, and other things besides silver. The stars were for the most part absolutely beautiful looking and terribly handsome, if they were male, and I used to look at them and think “if only I……….”. But I got over that after awhile and became far more interested in how they behaved while in the store and how they treated us, the sales people. While all of this was going on, I met a sales woman on the 3rd floor in the children’s clothing department. When I first saw her, a wave of shock went through me physically as she was possibly the ugliest looking woman I had ever seen in my life. But when she approached me and we got to talking, the second thing that struck me besides how she looked was that she had one of the most beautiful speaking voices I had ever heard, and as I got to know her better, it was obvious that she was highly intelligent, and better yet, full of kindness and compassion for just about everyone. I never heard her say a cutting word against anybody, and she had many occasions to do so. She was not always treated with respect whether because of her looks or other reasons, I never understood, but this didn’t stop her from being warm, kind and friendly, while maintaining a totally professional attitude towards her job. I was in my early 20s at that time, and she struck a chord in me so that I have never forgotten her. I wondered how many times she may have looked at herself in the mirror when she was combing her hair and putting on lipstick, and what she may have wished about her physical appearance and how this must seem to others. But for those who gave her half a chance, I think she may have been the most beautiful person I have ever seen, putting the movie stars who came and went to shame who for the most part were not particularly nice to the sales people, with the exception of two – Lena Horne and Deborah Kerr. Both of them we know as being beautiful externally, but they were also beautiful in the way they related to ordinary people such as ourselves, without a hint of the fact that somehow they were great stars, and we were not.
So I am glad that Kermit finally realizes that being green isn’t such a bad thing after all – only if he lets himself think that it is. Because I also think Kermit was really beautiful though he may not have seen himself quite in that way.
Thanks for a great blog.
(from a reader)
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