Saturday, October 23, 2004

Stars and Dots

I have been trying to read to the girls in the evenings. Thursday night they chose all the stories they liked when they were “little.” One book, You Are Special, written by Max Lucado, which wasn't one of their favorites, made its way in the stack. It really got my attention as I read it.

This is an excerpt from the beginning of the story:

The Wemmicks were small wooden people carved by a woodworker named Eli.
Each Wemmick was different. Some had big noses, others had large eyes. Some were tall and others were short.

Each Wemmick had a box of golden star stickers and gray dot stickers. The wooden people went around the village sticking stars or dots on one another.

The pretty ones got stars. Wemmicks with rough wood or chipped paint got dots.
The talented ones got stars too. Some could jump over tall boxes or sing pretty songs. Others, though could do little. They got dots.

Punchinello was one of these. He tried to jump high like others, but he always fell. So the Wemmicks would give him dots. When he tried to explain why he fell, he would say something silly, so the Wemmicks would give him more dots.

“He deserves lots of dots,” the wooden people would say. After a while Punchinello believed them. “I guess I’m not a good Wemmick,” he decided. So he stayed inside most of the time.
When he did go outside, he hung around other Wemmicks who had lots of dots. He felt better around them.

The story goes on to tell that one day Punchinello meets Lucia who has neither stars nor dots. Punchinello asks why and she tells him to see the maker and find out.

This story touched me because on Wednesday night I spent an evening with people who according to Lucado’s story, would be covered in dots. It made me understand better why Punchinello felt more comfortable to be with people like himself than to be around the people who had assigned him his dots. I also thought about how hard it would be when you are so covered in dots to even be able to see a maker.

If you were a Wemmick, would you be covered with stars, dots, both, or completely starless and dotless?