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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 9 of 9. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Miller on April 1, 2003, at 13:16:44
My favorite children's book when I was really young was a book called "Corduroy" It is about this teddy bear in a department store. He can't figure out why nobody will buy him. One day a little girl comes into the store, picks him up, looks him right in his eyes, and says she wants to take him home. The girl's mother tells her "no" because the bear is missing a button off his overalls and he is very expensive. That night when the store closes, the bear leaps off the shelf in search of a button. He looks everywhere. He ends up on the escalator going to the next floor. He is on the floor with all of the mattresses. He sees all the buttons on the mattresses and he gets so excited. He jumps up on a bed and tries to get the button. It, of course, is sewn on. He pulls and pulls until it finally releases. It sends him flying into a lamp, which he knocks over. The security guard finds the bear and brings him back to the toy department. The bear, disappointed, falls asleep for the night. Right at opening the next morning, he is just waking when the same little girl comes in and buys the bear with the money she has been saving. She runs all the way home with him. On the way home she names him Corduroy. He finds himself in her bedroom being truly loved as the little girl sews a button on his overalls. He found his home.
**To all fellow Babblers I hope you find your "home".** :)
-Miller
Posted by Dinah on April 1, 2003, at 18:09:52
In reply to Once upon a time..., posted by Miller on April 1, 2003, at 13:16:44
What a sweet story, Miller. I somehow missed it when reading books to my son.
I just wish I could find someone to sew my missing button back on.
Posted by Miller on April 1, 2003, at 20:46:34
In reply to Re: Once upon a time... » Miller, posted by Dinah on April 1, 2003, at 18:09:52
My online shrink told me the missing button represents a person's "lack". The bear found out he was lacking and went in search of it (as most of us do). He was unable to do it through his own, misguided attempts.
The little girl, he says, represents real love, in that she accepted the teddy bear as he was, lacking and all. She was able to fill his need by giving real love.
My online shrink says I am beginning to see the truth of my missing button. Once I am able to do that, I will strive to be the little girl in my attempts to give real love. (The simple wish for the good of others.)
Therefore, after thinking of it in relation to this board, I can see each one of us struggling to find buttons and learn to give selflessly.
-Miller
Posted by Tabitha on April 2, 2003, at 2:07:57
In reply to Dinah, posted by Miller on April 1, 2003, at 20:46:34
are we supposed to find somebody else to sew on our buttons, or can we sew on our own buttons?
Posted by justyourlaugh on April 2, 2003, at 7:17:18
In reply to Re: so the moral is? » Miller, posted by Tabitha on April 2, 2003, at 2:07:57
"button ,button who got you button?"
people in glass buttons,shouldnt throw buttons!
jyl
Posted by Dinah on April 2, 2003, at 7:35:09
In reply to Re: so the moral is? » Miller, posted by Tabitha on April 2, 2003, at 2:07:57
Isn't that one of the ideas behind interpersonal therapy? That the therapist helps us find that lost button and helps us learn how to sew it back on? I think the story is a pretty good one for a therapist to tell.
Mine is always telling me that my relationship with my parents left me with some serious lacks. And that I'm supposed to find in my relationship with him new expectations and new ways of relating. I dunno. Sometimes I think that's a big load of horse manure.
But at any rate, I think we sometimes get stuck on our own and it does take someone else to help us find what we are missing and how to either get it or learn to live without it. Self reliance is great, but maybe that's the stretch goal. In the meatime, our culture probably puts too little emphasis on how we are all entwined and how we all need each other.
Or maybe I'm all full of horse manure myself. :)
Posted by Miller on April 2, 2003, at 10:05:34
In reply to Once upon a time..., posted by Miller on April 1, 2003, at 13:16:44
Well, the way I see it is that each one of us is missing a button. Each one of us needs to learn to give real love.
Maybe in an abstract way, the happy ending is just that? Maybe once it all ends, we find the button and learn to give real love. Maybe that's what heaven is, buttons and love.
-Miller
Posted by Tabitha on April 2, 2003, at 13:29:05
In reply to Re: so the moral is?, posted by justyourlaugh on April 2, 2003, at 7:17:18
Posted by WorryGirl on April 2, 2003, at 19:08:10
In reply to Re: so the moral is? » Tabitha, posted by Dinah on April 2, 2003, at 7:35:09
This is the end of the thread.
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