As you know, I have red eyes. My eyes are very sensitive.
I am often dazzled by too much light. This is a drawback.
But in the dark, my eyes allow me to see perfectly. I can also see things that are very far away, and sometimes I can even see what no one else can see.
Vampire’s eyes are sensitive to that extent.
My ears are very sensitive too. I have trouble with noise, and talking with ten thousand people at the same time exhausts me. That’s a drawback.
But my ears allow me to hear, behind the noise, the smallest of voices, the one that no one else listens to, and even let me hear what that voice doesn’t dare to say.
Vampire’s ears are sensitive to that extent.
Seeing further than the end of your nose
Most people hide things from others, and that’s normal.
When you’re sad, you don’t necessarily want everyone to know… but a vampire will only need to look at you for a second to see that you are. Because vampires see what others hide and hear what they don’t say.
Vampires are sensitive to that extent.
That’s why I think it’s kind of weird that instead of seeing the good side of vampires, people just see the fact that I have red eyes and big ears and then laugh at me or are afraid of me.
The sad truth is that most people act that way.
Don’t judge a book by its cover
Most people will look at you without actually seeing you and judge you very quickly.
Most people will listen to you without really hearing you and will judge you very quickly.
Those people could tell you that a book is no good just by looking at its cover.
And they make up their minds about you, and about most things, just like that.
The sad thing is that there is always good and bad in everything. Why do so many people only look at the bad side of things then?
Maybe it takes too much effort for some people to think a little… To dig a little… To take the time…
Maybe, different is, indeed, scary.
But there is another truth behind all this, which I would like you to always keep in mind. To be certain that it’s clear in your head, I will explain it to you with flowers…
A dandelions’ story
Imagine a field of dandelions.
All the dandelions are yellow, round, and about the same size. The dandelions are happy. They enjoy the sun. People take pictures of them, and children pick them to make bouquets for their moms.
I like dandelions. I like yellow.
Now, let’s imagine a poppy seed that got lost in the field.
Maybe it was a bird that had it in its beak and dropped it there. Perhaps it was the wind… It doesn’t matter. Now there is this little poppy seed that has planted itself in the middle of the scenery, and it’s going to grow.
As a result, sometime later, in this vast yellow field, we see… an entirely different flower…
In the middle of the yellow, we now see a scarlet red flower, with huge light petals. A flower that sways, fragile but free and happy in the wind, and that enjoys the sun’s rays too.
If flowers acted like humans, this is what would have happened:
Seeing this flower that doesn’t look like them growing in their midst, the dandelions would have been scared.
What is the first thing you notice in this picture?
Did you notice the 1654946th yellow dandelion on the right, over there in the background? Or did your eye immediately go to the poppy?
Some of the dandelions – not all of them, only those who work really hard to get noticed, those who actually have no self-confidence – would say, «No way, that’s out of the question! The children will see only that one now! They will find it more appealing than us! Can you imagine if it also makes seeds? We’ll end up with more red poppies, and no one will ever pay attention to us and our pretty yellow again! We who make so much effort to please everyone! »
Those dandelions would organize themselves to prevent the poppy from growing.
They would cover the small sprout with their short little petals to prevent the sun from reaching it and would keep it there, in the shade, small, frail, miserable, and alone, for as long as possible.
Luckily, flowers are not that silly. That’s why there are beautiful fields of flowers, all different from each other, all over the world.
Many people will do anything to dim your light so theirs can shine.
What they do not understand is that light doesn’t compete with itself. It multiplies. Light plus light means more light. And if everyone had a shot at letting their own light shine, there would just be more light everywhere. How enlightened would we be then!
Here’s what I want you to remember: being different, being a vampire, or being a poppy in a field of dandelions, it’s all the same.
Most people, who work so hard to please as many people as they can, to get noticed, to be popular, cannot accept that someone would just show up and get noticed just for being different. Moreover when they could end up being appreciated too, if they were allowed to blossom and flourish just as they are.
That’s why some people will do anything they can to overshadow you, to make you feel so bad that you won’t dare to grow and stretch as high as you could.
It’s up to you not to let this happen, to grow fearlessly, proud to be different, until you, too, can swing free in the wind and enjoy the sun’s rays.
