From the author: About uniqueness and one’s own identity. There is hardly a person who does not know the tale of the Ugly Duckling, which was written by the Danish storyteller G.H. Andersen. They even say that it was painted from life. The prototype of the Ugly Duckling was the author himself. What is this story about? I guess it's about peculiarity. About the uniqueness of an individual, which society does not accept. Throughout the first part of the tale, the motive of the outcast, “not like that,” and therefore Ugly, can be traced. Indeed, having become such, an outcast, the Ugly Duckling spent the entire winter alone. And already in the spring, in despair, he deliberately went (swam) to meet his death, hoping to receive it from the beaks of those Beautiful Swans who violated his solitude. And, suddenly, oh, miracle, he turned out to be... Swan, one of them! Now he's not ugly! Is he...Beautiful? In general, yes... but let me note that it’s not only that. He is the same. He stopped being unique. He is one of them, from the Swans. Well, maybe more beautiful than everyone else, younger and more graceful, but “on the board.” So, I’m talking about uniqueness this time. For some reason, the fairy tale emphasizes the uniqueness of the Ugly Duckling and the fact that it is “good” to not be so special. But he felt “good” not in exile, and not in the chicken coop, but precisely when he ceased to be that special person, but became like everyone else. That is, I changed my environment, as psychologists would say. I have another fairy tale. Or a parable. About Eagle, who also ended up in the chicken coop. The Eagle's fate was the exact opposite of the Duckling's. Mother Hen, who hatched the Eagle's egg, treated the newly-born freak with understanding. And she accepted her cross. She raised Orel along with her children, chickens and roosters. And the Eagle grew up in this environment, absorbing the rules and norms of the chicken coop. One day, as in the fairy tale about the Ugly Duckling with the swans, an Eagle flew over the chicken coop. And the chickens looked at him admiringly. And the Chicken Eagle asked his mother, what kind of bird is this? And his mother answered him, they say, son, a peck is better than a worm... This is the Eagle, the king of all birds, he flies higher than the sun, where are we, chickens, before him. You, eat, eat, don’t get wet. And the Eagle lowered his gaze into the dung heap, because it was a sin to miss such a fat dung beetle. And the Eagle lived on. Lived calmly like a chicken. And he died like a chicken, because he firmly believed in his chicken origin. ...Each of the main characters in the aviary was unique. Special. One was driven out, the other was adapted. And not one of them was realized in the original alien society with their true identity. Mowgli children become “friends” in wolf and monkey packs. They are adapted, and in the future they live like all animals in this society. To be unique in a familiar environment, you need considerable courage, strength of spirit and wisdom of the body, in order to understand your instincts, and the sensitivity of the soul, in order to “calculate” this otherness of yours. Is this why, even having noticed inclinations and characteristics in themselves that are not shared by the environment, such people are looking for “their own.” To know themselves through another. It turns out that the Ugly Duckling was very lucky, unlike the Chicken. He was not accepted, thereby leaving his otherness intact, while the adapted Eagle was forced to remain a Chicken. But with deviations. Well, what society does not have its members with various “phase shifts”? When talking about the uniqueness of a person, and even in a positive way, we usually understand and accept the socially desirable qualities that he has in abundance, compared to other people. "He is very kind; she is merciful; hardworking (it doesn’t matter that workaholism is a disease); he is a leader (he earned the most money).” About uniqueness in a negative way, we say “The laziest; very angry; selfish; and so on). All the same qualities that are present in this society are mentioned, but “normally,” so to speak. Many people want to be unique, to stand out “from the gray mass.” Even in their sales offers, all successful manufacturers claim to be unique. And this,