Anyway, Süsü was a strange dragon. His family all hated him because he was such an odd-ball, after all, he only had one head. People of course hated him because he was a big scary dragon.
So you can imagine how hard it was for him in the world.
At age 3, my parents left me in Hungary (a communism country at the time) to come to America for a better life. Almost a year later, I finally was able to join them. I felt a bit like our dragon here: out of place, coming into an alien culture.
My first school was a Catholic School. The nuns did not like me too much. I am told that most of the time, one would wait with me until my mom picked me up to tell her what I had done wrong that day. I was bossy and determined and asked too many questions I shouldn't. I was also highly intelligent.
An example: In Art, we were asked to draw a picture of a fish. At 5, I did not know what a fish looked like and the teacher refused to tell me. Only stating that I should do my best. So what did my 5 year old self do? I painted the entire page blue.
Teacher: You did not do the assignment, where is the fish?
Self: I did draw a fish, it's in the ocean.
Being so young, it wasn't for a while that my oddness in relation to others became apparent to me. I had a tough time growing up because I was different. I did not speak like those born here. After all, I learned English from school (and Sesame Street of course) and I spoke like a dictionary. What I mean is that I did not use slang for a long time, and I am (and was) usually very grammatically correct. I also did not do things the everyone else did, I wanted to do things my way.
I started thinking about this this week because I finally applied for US citizenship. (woot! way to go me!)
I was thinking about how fortunate I am to live in this country and how thankful I am for growing up the way that I did.
My parents always told me how terrible it was living under oppression, in a place where you couldn't be yourself. Where the nails that stood up would be hammered down.
And so my dragon taught me that it was good to be different and that when the people that mattered in your life knew who you really were, they would love you. And those who didn't, didn't matter.
Süsü wasn't the only one, just the first one, that began teaching me these life-long lessons. I grew up with stories about heroes and standing up for what you believe in and protecting ones family.
In thanks to my heritage and family and as a remembrance to those family that I have lost this past week, I am going to share some more of the stories I grew up with this week.
I'm in a more somber mood than usual, so you'll have to forgive me for being a little less-than my normal humorous and witty self.
I'll leave you with a little clip of Süsü.
