Ugly Pumpkins Cry No More

Have you ever read the children's book, "The Ugly Pumpkin"? Well the gist of the story is that a skinny square pumpkin just never seems to fit into the proverbial and literal pumpkin patch. He doesn't look the same, he's not plump and round like the others. He's sad and lonely because the other pumpkins aren't very kind to him since he isn't just like them. (So far, sounds sadly similar to real life right?) Everyone always trying to make you comply to the same old mold. Getting excluded because you dare to look different, act different, think different or like different things. Well, the 'Ugly Pumpkin' learns in the end that he was not really a pumpkin at all...no, he was in fact, a Squash! And at last....he finds where he belongs....where he feels at home, with like minds and kindred souls squash! Funny how we humans have the tendency to think 'flaws' and 'differences' are somehow less than perfect, undesirable even. But over night, the low man on the totem pole, can find himself tomorrow's top dog....or in this case, top Pumpkin! There is a phenomenon called "The Tipping Point"....if you haven't read the book of that name, then I encourage you to do so...it's a very interesting read about this very occurrence. And it would seem that the 'tipping point' has come for that 'Ugly Pumpkin'!
Yes...it is now not just acceptable, but downright desirable even to be the 'Ugly Pumpkin' in the patch....warts and all! Seems that pumpkin farmers have fought long and hard for the last 50 years to get rid of warts and breed the perfect pumpkin...plump, round and smooth. But a shift in the public psyche and perception over time has now made the 'ugly, lumpy, bumpy, warty, misshapen and odd colored pumpkin the poster child of Halloween. Why the shift in perception? What was the tipping point that made the disfigured gourd de rigueur? The commercial growth of Halloween is of course partly responsible, but would you believe that Saint Mary-Martha (Stewart), the Patron Saint of Seasonal Celebrations, also shares in the credit for this 'seedy' turn of events?
I was not in the least bit surprised....after all it was she and others of the creative, designer bent...that first started searching out those odd colored, unusual and sometimes ugly pumpkins to use in their decorating and crafts. And slowly but surely...we came around, we saw the beauty in the unusual, the grand potential of being different! Suddenly we didn't all feel compelled to be 'Star Bellied Sneetches' anymore. No, we want 'scars' upon ours!! Our pumpkins that is. Yep, these hybrid 'ugly pumpkins' with equally unflattering names like the 'Warty Knucklehead', are now all the rage....who would of thunk it?! Farmers are reporting that these hybrid seeds that once sold for $25/lb., are now going for $200/lb.! Consumers are now willing to 'shell' out the big bucks for those pumpkins that do NOT conform to the norm....the weirder and uglier, the better!
Being a big fan of ugly pumpkins myself, I fully understand this odd attraction to unusual things. I am always striving to be unique and different from those around me....thus my pumpkins are no exception to that rule. And it's about time we learn to place value on how we differ, rather than on how we conform. After all, variety is the spice of life....and thanks to us Halloween lovers (and Martha)....the pumpkin farmers are making more money and the 'Ugly Pumpkin' is the Belle of the Halloween Ball! Click here for further reading on the emerging trend of ugly pumpkins.