Something special, something Great!

Something special… Something GREAT!
Written by Ayelet Jospe-Ritchie

Hi There!
My name is Zee and I have a story to tell you about a little girl who went out searching for something special, something great!
I know this little girl very well, so I could have told her from the start where to find that something special, something great - and I tried!
But she couldn't hear me. And she probably wouldn't have believed me anyway! So she had to go and search long and hard before she could believe it, and before she could hear me.
It might not make much sense, but you'll see… if you listen!
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Once upon a time there was a little girl named Rosy.
Rosy lived with her normal family in a normal house in a normal town.
But she didn't feel normal.
Rosy liked to read fairy tales and stories about magic.
Her favorite stories were about normal little children finding out they had special powers or a special secret life.
Rosy would read and read. And what a pile of books she had! She read big books, little books, thick books and thin books. But every book – no matter how big or small, how thick or how thin – had something in common: there was always a special someone with a special power.
Rosy would dream and dream of discovering great powers! She imagined herself speaking with all kinds of animals - just like Cinderella! Or swimming and singing underwater just like a beautiful little mermaid.
She once read a book about children who had super powers and could move things with their mind! So she sat and stared at her teddy bear for hours trying to make it move... but it never worked.
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Rosy would often look up at the stars at night and make a wish:
"Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight
I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight"
And she would wish with all her heart that she would someday find that something great and special inside herself – a power, a gift or an amazing destiny!
I kept telling Rosy not to give up! I knew she would find that something special, that something great! … if she just kept looking.
And even though she couldn't quite understand me, looking at the stars, Rosy could feel it.
She knew there was something wonderful out there – just for her, and she truly believed she would find it someday.
And so each night, Rosy would fall asleep and dream of soaring across the sky, talking to animals and using her special powers to help others in need.
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At school the other kids treated Rosy a bit… differently. Rosy didn't like it. She didn't want to be different – she wanted to be special!
What's the difference?
Is there a difference?
It was all a bit tricky and confusing! On the one hand Rosy felt special… or at least that she SHOULD be special – and she liked that feeling. But on the other hand she wanted to be just like everybody else.
As time went by, Rosy understood that she could act like everybody else and play the same games on the playground, sing the same songs, and do the same tricks with the skipping rope. She felt that being kind and friendly with all her school friends was really important. And she had lots of friends, which made her feel really special. It really did!


But when she was alone she still loved looking up at the stars and feeling that something really special, really great, was out there!  And every now and then she would try talking with the family cat or moving her teddy bear with her mind – but nothing happened.
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I tried so hard to tell Rosy where it was – that something special, that something great that she was looking for! But I couldn't get her to listen to me! I would scream and shout! I would do cart-wheels and jump around waving my hands! … but it was like she just couldn't hear me!  Or maybe she just didn't believe me.
And then, one day when I couldn't shout any more, I whispered in her ear when she was sleeping: "Go out and find your something special, go out and look for that something great! Don't be scared, I'll be with you the whole time!"
The very next day, Rosy decided that she couldn't wait any longer! She would go out and find that something special – that something GREAT!
She packed her bag and got ready to go. She was at the door when suddenly, she felt very afraid.
"What if I get lost? What if I get hurt? What if I never find that something special?
She turned to her parents. They smiled, hugged her tight and said:
"It's OK to be scared Rosy. But being afraid doesn't mean you shouldn't do something. You'll be careful out there and we'll be here for you if ever you need anything."
That was all she needed to hear. So with that in mind, she set off.

She walked and walked. She went by bus and by train. Up and down mountains, over hills and across valleys. She took a boat and a plane. She looked under the water and in between the clouds …
She saw worlds of white, and worlds of green, worlds of yellow and worlds of blue. She saw glorious places with every color of the rainbow and gloomy places with no color at all.
While she was searching, some of the places she found were full of magic and beauty, and others were dark and sad. Sometimes she had so many friends that she didn't know who to play with first! But other times she felt all alone. So every now and then Rosy felt sad or scared - but she never gave up.
Whenever she felt lost, I would encourage her to look up at the stars and remember: "I'll find that something wonderful, that something GREAT!"
Rosy also met many different people. Some were wonderful and some were strange, some were fun and some were plain. Some were wise, and some were silly, some were happy and some were grumpy. Some were big and some were small. Others were short while others were tall. And she asked them, “Where can I find something special, something great?”
And each and every one of them would smile and say, “It’s in you, Rosy, it’s in you!”

The places she saw and the people she met were worth every minute of the way, but still she did not understand where her special something was. What did they mean when they said, “It’s in you, it’s in YOU!”? It sounded familiar, like she'd heard it before somewhere… but she couldn't remember where or when - or what it meant!
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Rosy did not give up. I was with her the whole time. Together we walked and walked and read and read and talked and talked to the people she met. And slowly, she seemed to hear me more and more - 
"Maybe it's not something you find… maybe it's something you make or something you do?" Rosy thought she heard me say.

Oh, how exciting! Could it be that Rosy was finally hearing me, that she finally understood?
So she tried painting and she tried dancing. She tried running real fast and jumping really far! She learned how to swim and she learned how to sing! She wasn't always the best at everything – but it was still all lots of fun! And yet, none of those made her feel she had found that something special, that something great.
Time passed, and as the winter turned to spring and the spring turned to summer and the summer turned to fall, Rosy slowly started to realize that traveling was great, seeing new people and making new friends was incredible and trying new things were all wonderful.
And one day… while she was doing all this… she thought about it…
And she felt that the more she did and the more she searched, the more she wanted to LEARN and SEE and FIND!
Suddenly Rosy understood that she's done so much, seen so much and learned so much – just because she had tried!
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And that’s when she finally heard me:
"Rosy!
That's what makes you SPECIAL!
That's what makes you GREAT!"
Rosy always wanted to BE special and she had always FELT special … because she ALWAYS WAS special. It was inside her all along.
That's what I've been telling her all this time! But she couldn't hear me until she could see all that she could do and until she believed in herself!


Rosy was right - the stars in the sky are part of something truly amazing. But it's reaching out to them that is really special. Believing in yourself and what you can do is the greatest and most wonderful power in the world.
Rosy finally understood that it is important to be yourself and all you can be! But it is also important to believe that you are already special just the way you are and to listen to that voice inside you.
Once she learned this – she felt like she could do anything she set her mind to.
It takes great power to listen to your heart and follow your dreams. And it's not always easy to listen to that voice inside of you.
But I'm only one of many little helpers. Each and every one of you has a friend inside of you, trying to help you reach out to find your something special, your something great!
You just have to listen and believe!
You are something special, you are something great!
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The End