This children’s book is a humorous but very clever and poignant look at individual differences. It tells the story of life on the barn when one individual isn’t like the rest of the herd. I think a lot can be learned from this book, both in terms of accepting individual differences, and reaching out to others who are equally disadvantaged. The moral of the story can easily be generalized to represent the disturbing anti-immigrant, English-only trend that has swept the nation, particularly the south.
Note: blockquotes are direct quotes from the book; italics represent my paraphrasings.
The book begins:
There was once a cow that went OINK.
The cows that went MOO laughed at the cow that went OINK.
The cow meets a pig with a similar problem- a pig that went MOO.
And the other animals laughed at her, too.
That made the pig sad.
But then the cow had a great idea.
She would teach the pig to OINK.
So the cow that went OINK made a loud OINK, while the pig that went MOO listened carefully.
It got worse before it got better.
The horse, the donkey, and the sheep thought that this was very funny.
You see, stopping to help those who are less fortunate try to better themselves is crazy.
But the pig that went MOO didn’t listen to them. She listened to the cow.
Brave pig. Way to go. One of the hardest things for kids (and other people, too, really) to learn is to pay no attention to the teasings of the herd. They don't know any better.
She tried over and over again to oink like a pig, and finally did it.
Now it was the cow’s turn. She needed to learn to MOO. So the pig tried to teach her.
The rooster, the turkey, and the duck laughed and laughed.
But finally the cow could MOO, and still OINK, and the pig could OINK, and still MOO.
And they were the only animals on the farm that could do both.
So they had the last laugh.
The End.
Each animal had something to offer the other.
All they had to do was ignore the banter of the herd and do what they knew was best.
As a result, both animals wind up with a greater fund of knowledge than anyone else around. Both can now communicate in either language.
I’ve posted a couple of diaries (here and here) about the national anti-immigrant trend. I have suggested before that it would be a good idea for schools to teach Spanish as a second language in areas with high Spanish-speaking populations. If you can speak English while you are learning Spanish, and the immigrants can speak Spanish while they are learning English, then I think both sides wind up better from it.