Paint The Big Picture - A Snoodle's Tale

The picture you see defines the person you become. Paint the big picture and live in it! Be a die-hard optimist. Behind every success is this big picture.

Here is a little tale I have for you. You're special and you should see it. It's a Snoodle's tale

Far far away in the land of Galoots, where the biggle-bag trees bear the biggle-bag fruits.. you'll find a small town not much bigger than 'you'. Welcome to Snoodle berg - home of the Snoodles. These are a curious folk that eat pancakes with noodles and spent half a day making sketches and cutting their hair in the shapes like French poodles. (Wow! that was a weird intro).

The Snoodles were not born but created. Every forth Tuesday night, at 9:15pm, the tower in the middle of the city would shinny and rattle and whine, and a small shiny young Snoodle would drop from the shoot. That's where they come from. One day, one small Snoodle just like the others came, without siblings, money, mother or father. The pack on his back was all he had. But there was something different about him. "This is peculiar!” the little guy exclaimed. Then he asked and said to himself, "what do I look like and what am I for". (That's the difference). While pondering on those, he figured out that checking his bag was the best place to start. Then from his back pack, he pulled out some paints and a 'Kazoo'. He pulled a string and from his sides came out two little wings. Amazed then, he said to himself, "I can paint, I can make music and now I can fly!" With excitement all over, he raced to share the great things he could do with his paints, his Kazoo and his wings.

Then from the top of the short stubby walls, the big Snoodles heard the new small Snoodle call out, "come watch me you guys as I head for the sky!" He straightened his wings with a gleam in his eyes. Then he jumped and flapped his wings like the red 'snooded' finches that fly from the plains to the peak of mount Ginches. His flight unlike theirs covered only twelve inches. The older Snoodles jeered and ridiculed. They painted a picture and stacked in his back pack saying, "carry this with you so visions of flying do not get to your head!" The story (picture) they told made the young one look foolish and his heart sank. 

Hopping away under the weight of the load, discouraged he was till he spotted a bright bundle of beautiful flowers. His heart started lifting as he saw the beautiful things. Then he remembered he had got more than wings. So quickly he brought out his paint and hoped that with the art, maybe he’ll have the knack. "I did it!" he yelled to the other Snoodles. Then he held up his picture as they gathered around. Again they said, "You have showed you're not better at painting than flying, you're puny, you're silly, you're not all that smart; you can't use your wings and you're no good at art". This they did as they painted yet another picture and stacked into his pack. This picture made him feel more awful and his heart slumped as low as his pack. "I'm ugly, I'm foolish and so very small" he said at last, "I think I should not be with Snoodles at all".

Then he decided to go into obscurity, far far away from the city. He plodded wearily until one day he climbed to the top of mount Ginches in bid to be alone. There he met a stranger (Creator) who looked friendly and was very welcoming. Looking confused, he asked the stranger, "are you blind? I'm puny, I'm silly, and I’m not all that smart. I can't use my wings; I'm not good at arts". The stranger leaned down with pain in his heart as he asked, "Who told you that?" He replied, "The pictures I have in my pack tell me so".  Then picture by picture the stranger unpacked the bag that bent the poor Snoodle and made his wings sag. Warmly he said, "Dear boy, these pictures look nothing like you. What you need most is a picture from me (Creator)". "It's time that you learned what you really look like”. He (Creator) made a picture, the big picture. What the boy saw was amazing. The boy in the portrait looked older and strong with wings on his back, sturdy and long; the look in his eyes, courageous and free. He then realized that is his true picture. He began to live in it. All he had, the paints, the Kazoo and the wings were his special skills to be used to make life meaningful. All the other Snoodles had same but did not maximize them. They only used their paints to make others feel bad.

Exhilarated, he left mount Ginches not just flying, but soaring. He flew to the clouds and flew with the finches. He soared up and down round the peak of mount Ginches. He flew over biggle-bag trees and their fruits in big lazy loops for the land of Galoots. He hurried back home to the centre of town where the older Snoodles all stood with their wings on the ground. He told them the story that I just told you. He saw his Big Picture and is now a legend.

You become the picture you see!!  If you don't mind, what picture of yourself do you see? Paint the Big Picture today!!!



(Story culled from Snoodles Tale by Phil Vischer)