There once was a bird. It didn’t know what it was made for so it went to every possible corner of the world, asking every two-legged species it came across: “Am I like you?” No one could give the little bird a definite answer, but they let the little bird try to be just like them. Turns out, it wasn’t even a bird to begin with, but a human with two legs.
You might have laughed, as no one in real life has the kind of time and energy (not to mention the financial support) to jog around and try every single thing possible. But this reminds me of “The Ugly Duckling” — swan misplaced among ducks, spending its whole life believing that it was one of them and trying so hard to be like them.
The bird in our anecdote above of course had the privilege to take time and discover every aspect of itself, to travel and eventually find out who it truly was. However, when an individual’s whole life has been about their community, their family, and the following of footsteps is not only all they’ve ever known but all that has supposedly been expected of them, anything alternative would be far off. If you were told all your life that you were a bird, you might think of yourself as a bird too.
Perhaps all our swan friend wished for was to feel like they belonged somewhere, with someones, as somebody. They tried to live by what seemed right, what seemed to have been set out for them. But is that all we can do with our lives?
We were created with minds and souls and limbs, and were given these gifts by others, but they are ours to cherish. It’s okay if we don’t use those limbs to become the most gracious bird of our pack. In the end, all that is expected of us is to lead a good life. And sometimes, that is as simple as living the life we were given well, in the only way we know how. Because there isn’t just one way to live for the people we love.
January Sun is the second original musical by FRAGMENTS. This piece is dedicated to exploring one of the significant themes of the musical.