talent [story]

“Ha ha,” said the monkey to the fish. “This strange-looking monkey cannot climb a tree.”

“I do not judge you for your lack of gills,” said the fish glumly, “for you are a monkey. Please see that I am a fish!”

“Ha ha,” said the monkey to the fish. “This fish is inferior to monkeys because they have never seen the tops of our trees.”

The fish sadly descended back into the water. “They do not want to see me,” said the fish. “I must be ashamed for my lack of ability!”

The monkey went on without a second thought.

Note:

This was written to be a challenge of writing an allegorical piece in exactly 100 words. When choosing my allegory, I decided to go with the topic of neurodivergency while expanding on the famous quote, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid,” which is often credited to Albert Einstein, though he didn’t actually say that. Instead of taking this in an educational/academic setting, I went with a setting that I thought was a better match for the quote — born disorders and disabilities.

I just think more people around me should realize that disabilities are real.