Ugly ducklings grow out of akward stages Antonio G. Saldaña News-Chronicle My high school diploma reads, "Antonio G. Saldaña has completed the Course of Study prescribed by the Board of Education and is therefore entitled to this Diploma Given at Green Bay, in the State of Wisconsin, June 7, 1977." I am completely flabbergasted when I think that it has been 26 years since I earned my diploma from West High School. I can still recall my family cheering for me when Principal John R. Biolo handed me my diploma. For the most part, my high school experience was a positive one. Twenty-six years later, in 2003, seniors who were able to meet their high school graduation requirements earned the right to walk across various graduation stages throughout Brown County. It is relatively safe to say that although many of these seniors wore smiles as they walked across the stage to receive their diploma, there were graduates whose facial expressions of happiness masked a painful high school experience. Although a known fact among students, parents, teachers and administrators, no one would dare admit that there were graduates in Brown County whose high school experience left them feeling like ugly ducklings. In case you have forgotten the story, allow me to refresh your memory. The ugly duckling was born alongside other feathered fowls. He didn't look like a chicken and he didn't look like a duck. Therefore, he was rejected by both sides. Basically, he could not do what the others could do. He certainly was different. Like humans, the other feathered fowls could not accept anyone who was not just like them. In fact, they hated him because he was different. The feathered fowls made it so miserable for him that he ran away from the barnyard. But everywhere he went in the world, he was laughed at and criticized. The other animals looked at him and thought that he was very ugly. No one wanted him. He was rejected by everyone. One day he passed a pond and there were some magnificent swans. They were extremely beautiful. He looked at them and desired to be just like them. As the story goes, the winter came and went. When springtime came, this little creature saw his reflection in the water. To his surprise and delight, he discovered that he was not an ugly duckling at all; he was a swan. He forgot his miserable past and glided off gracefully in the water with the other swans. Although the ugly duckling was able to forget his miserable past, in reality, it is easier said than done. Nonetheless, if you are a senior who graduated from high school feeling like an ugly duckling, I share some simple but powerful words by Hippocrates when he said, "Healing is a matter of time." Inserted inside my high school diploma was a 2- by-5-inch card bearing the words, "You have each been given a bag of tools, a formless rock and a book of rules; and each must make, ere life has flown, a stumbling-block or a stepping-stone." The past cannot be changed. Therefore, we must look to the future. Which will you be this time? A stumbling-block or a stepping-stone? Antonio G. Saldaña is a fifth-generation American born in Oconto. He is a Hispanic Advocate and ex-migrant worker. His column appears Sundays. You can contact him via e-mail at [email protected]