Rock...or Flower?

The natural world around us becomes a means of expressing who we are. For example, a child picks up a hard, cold, stone. He feels its strength; it seems unbreakable. He throws the stone, it bounces. The thing seems immutable. Later, during a fight with his older brother or sister, he imagines himself, a stone. He exclaims, "I am a rock! You can't hurt me!" The rock has become a metaphor to express who he is. At the same time, it expresses who he is not. He is not like the fragile rose petal that so easily tears. His elder sibling yells, "You are a pansy!" The child wonders, "Am I a rock, or a flower?"

[via Thoughts on Thinking]