Purple Pig Lessons

My favorite childhood bedtime story is also a childhood memory.

As the youngest of five kids growing up on a farm in upstate New York, there wasn’t a lot of room so my sisters and I had to share a bed room. At night, when we were trying to wind down for bed, we would beg my older sister to tell us a story. She created a wonderful fantasy so engaging that it usually had the opposite effect. We would stay awake for hours while she told us a story, each night adding new parts to keep us entertained.

The story followed the life of the purple pig. He was a lonely pig, because all of the other pigs were black and white, or orange, or pink. No one wanted to play with him or talk to him. All he wanted was a friend. One night, he ran away. He stopped at a pond and cried because he was so sad and lonely. A fairy heard his cries and granted him three wishes, so of course, the little purple pig asked to be turned into a normal colored pig. He went back and the other pigs accepted him but each of the different colored pigs had flaws. Some sat around looking at the stars, trying to be smarter than the other pigs. They didn’t even talk to each other to find out anything about anyone else. Others stared at themselves in the pond all day, thinking they were the prettiest little pigs and laughing at each other. The third group of pigs ran around, pushing and shoving each other. They weren’t friends, because friends wouldn't hurt each other that way.

The little purple pig was even sadder now because he had run out of wishes, he didn’t want to be friends with any of the other pigs because they were mean to each other, and now he was stuck as one of them. He ran away, but he got lost in the forest. He was very scared and lonely so he started crying again. The fairy came to him one last time and for his last wish, he wished to be purple again. He had discovered that it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside, but what’s inside that counts.

When he went back to the herd, the other pigs asked him where he had gone. He told them he had left to find a new herd because no one wanted to be his friend, but he had learned to be true to himself, and be happy with who he was. The smart pigs were astonished, because they had been trying to figure out the true meaning of happiness. The pretty pigs told him that they had thought he was the most beautiful pig, too beautiful for them to talk to. The pigs who ran around pushing and shoving each other, were in fact pushing each other out of the way of any holes so that they didn’t twist a hoof and hurt themselves.

You see, life is about perspective. When you are looking at something, things are not always how they appear to be.

That story was just a story for me when I was younger. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that there was, in fact, a moral.

My older sister was very wise for someone so young.

She understood that it really doesn’t matter what you look like and that you have to accept yourself before you can expect others to. Some people will be cruel but I have learned over the years that that is their problem, not mine. As long as I can look at myself in the mirror each day and be happy with the person looking back. I feel that, at least for today, I am all right. Her story was about acceptance and self love, learning to appreciate who you are, flaws and all. Be happy with the gifts you’ve been given, strive to improve your weaknesses as you see them, and accept that perfection is not possible for anyone. There will be people in life that try to bring others down. Accept that you can’t always make everyone happy.

These are lessons that, many years later, I have tried to teach my children. I have told them the story of the purple pig, smiling to see that they were just as fascinated with the story as I was when I was young. Hopefully, they have realized the important life lesson that was imparted - to love yourself no matter what you look like, and no matter what anyone else says.