Why are you trying so hard to fit in
when you were born to stand out?
Why dress up in another fruit’s skin?
You’re an apple; of that there’s no doubt.
Your uniqueness is to be embraced,
Differences make this world grand,
If all fruits had the very same taste,
Life would be terribly bland.
You can make cake and crumble and sauce,
And then there is cider… and pie,
There are smoothies and juices of course,
You can bake, you can stew, you can fry.
It’s great to be so truly appley!
Why on earth would you sell yourself short?
Attempting so gosh-darn unhappily,
To change who you are at your core?
Please let go of all of that worrying,
Do away with all of that doubt,
Don’t try oh so hard to fit in,
When my sweet apple, you were born to stand out!
This poem was written for NaPoWriMo. Today’s challenge was to write a poem for a child. I strayed ever-so-slightly here and made a more light-hearted summary of a serious conversation I had with my 8-year-old son recently. He told me he didn’t want to be black any more; he wanted to be white, like his friends, so he could fit in. This piece is dedicated to him…
…and I’m sure all of us can relate to feeling different at one time or another – for any number of reasons.
“Why are you trying so hard to fit in when you were born to stand out?”
– Ian Wallace, What a Girl Wants
Serena Malcolm 
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