Ronald the Duck-Billed Platypus and Why it is Good to Be Different

Has anyone ever told you that you are different? I have been told that, but different is good, let me tell you my story.

One day I was old enough to find out who I was. I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed that I had different animal parts. I looked in the Encyclopedia and wrote down all the animals that had my parts. I packed my suitcase and went on a journey to find out if any of the animals I looked like would tell me who I belonged with. I can swim but I have to close my eyes and hold my nose when I go underwater, do you? I can only go underwater for three minutes at a time. I mainly come out at night or early morning. My name means flat-footed. I like earthworms for dinner. What do you like for dinner? I live in Australia which is far away from where you are, ask your parents to show you on a map. I traveled to America, I went to a river and a lake and then to a forest. It was a fun adventure. Ready to hear about it?

I have a duck bill and webbed feet so I went one day to hang out with and swim with the ducks at the lake, but I don't look like any of them. They were yellow and white, I'm brown colored. I lay eggs like they do. They said, "quack, quack". They told me I look different.

I have a tail like a beaver so one day I went to the river to help them chew down trees and carry the logs with my tail, but I don't have any teeth. They just slapped their tails in the water. They also told me that I look different.

I have fur like an animal but I'm a mammal, so I looked around to see if any animals would play with me. Nobody looked like me so I went to the next place on my list.

I have large pockets in my jaws that can carry food so I went looking for some chipmunks in the forest to gather food with, those chipmunks move too fast for me to keep up with. They just climbed the tree and chattered away. I look different.

I look like I was made from spare parts of four different animals, that's okay. It is good to be different. A duck is a duck, and a beaver is a beaver, I'm a duck-billed platypus. No one looks like me. No one looks like you, that is what makes being different so good.

So look around and see who's different from you. Some are tall and some are short. Some people move fast and other walk slower. Some quack and some don't. Remember, everybody is different for a reason.