The Children’s Christmas 2023 programme featured a ten-minute adaptation of Max Lucado’s well-loved story ‘You Are Special’. It tells of a town of wooden people where heart and dot stickers are used to express admiration or criticisms. Punchinello, is ‘dotted’ all over for being an oddball, while Lucia has no stickers at all! Lucia explains that she visits the Master Woodmaker every day to be reminded of her self-worth and purpose. That’s why no labels can stick on her!
Nashon Tan, who played Punchinello shares his journey working on this skit:
Before I was a part of this production, I gave a lot of weight to what others thought and said about me. I used to do things with the sole purpose of impressing others, and I would make a conscious effort to acquire skills that would make me stand out from the crowd so that people would notice me.
When I first started out in primary school, I noticed that a lot of my classmates could do many things that I could not, like playing a higher grade of piano than me. I started to compare myself to them, and I realised that I was not measuring up to their high standards. So, I started trying to gain unique talents, like the art of origami. Once I realised that people were willing to stop and take time to watch me fold paper, I thought I had found satisfaction. I gained more friends and I started to feel more confident about myself. However, someone would always be better than me. After that, I wanted more and more of that feeling of acceptance, so I started branching out into picking up other skills that I was not really keen on, just so I could draw in more “friends”. However, there would always be that someone who was better or more popular than me.
I realised that I could relate to Punchinello’s journey of always chasing after heart stickers to gain people’s approval. In my own life, I realised that I was tying my identity to shifting sand – the ever changing opinions of mere mortals. I am only beginning to realise how important it is to focus my vision on what God, my Woodmaker, says about me, because He who never changes is the One who made me, and He says that I am beautifully and wonderfully created.