Skin Climbing in "The Ogress and the Orphans"

When I did "The London Eye" study abroad last summer, my colleague M-A (who ran the program) would encourage students to "climb into [another person's] skin" (using a phrase from To Kill a Mockingbird). M-A would use this as a way to teach students - especially white students - to place themselves in the position of a BIPOC person (someone who has been characterized and defined by their skin color) in order to build empathy and understanding for the racism that marginalized people experience on a daily basis. This "skin climbing" is a powerful visual and I think it had an impact on students, as it had an impact on me.

Today I was reminded of this skin-climbing comparison in an anecdotal story found within The Ogress and the Orphans, a children's novel by Kelly Barnhill. The full story is can be read on Google Books, but I wanted to remember a few points that stood out to me and quote them here. The story is about an ancient dragon who put on the skin of an antelope and learned what it was like to live like an antelope.

The part that I love the most is when the dragon has an awakened moment after wearing the antelope skin:

"He was, he realized, more now. He was a dragon who had learned what it was like to be an antelope. He had been an antelope who knew what it was to be a dragon. Each experience expanded the other. There was more him in himself now - his mind was enlarged, and his soul was enlarged as well.

Very carefully, he picked up the magic-imbued antelope skin and held it tenderly in his arms. It felt previous to him now, and the key to something important. "Others should experience this," he said to himself. Other dragons need to know."

The Dragon took the antelope skin around the world, to all of dragonkind. One by one, the dragons put on the antelope's skin. One by one, they learned the delight in an antelope's speed and agility, as well as the joy of being a part of a herd. . . Most dragons, as a result of this experience, became vegetarians. The antelope skin - the First Antelope - became a holy object to dragonkind. They wanted to understand all creatures in this way. All places. They wanted to understand the whole world.

Over time, skin-wearing became a sacred practice for dragons. By becoming other creatures, they could better understand how dragons were perceived by others, and through understanding they could endeavor to make themselves nobler, kinder, more generous. It was through skin-wearing that dragons could seek enlightenment and openheartedness. Wearing skins became prayerful, holy, a state to be admired, and often dragons who had done so would listen. Temples were built. Icons adorned treasure caves. And the dragons who had taken on numerous points of view were venerated as saints. This came at a physical cost, of course. It took magic to animate the skins, and magic to wear them. The dragons would emerge weakened and ill after their time in the skins - made worse they longer they did it. Still, dragonkind considered this discomfort a worthwhile fee for their benefit. The enlightened dragons spent their recovery time in a state of contemplation and gratitude." (Kelly Barnhill, The Ogress and the Orphans, p. 81-82).

I like this comparison in how living in someone else's skin can not only build empathy, but it can allow for personal growth, self-reflection, contemplation and gratitude. I want to point out to my kids these truths when they read this short story, in hopes that they will be skin-climbers in their own lives.