[Something like a creative work] Komatsuna and the Tulip

I am a Komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach).
I have been a Komatsuna since I was born.
I am a vegetable rich in vitamins, iron, and calcium.
My flowers aren't very well known, but they are yellow and lovely.

But everyone around me says that tulips are better.
My family and my friends both expect me to be a tulip.
A beautiful, colorful flower.
Even small children know them.
There's even a song about them blooming, blooming.

My parents tell me to be a tulip, to stay a tulip.
So I tried my best.
To avoid being scolded, to avoid disappointing them.
I tried so, so hard.

Having tried so hard, I became like a tulip.
My parents were happy and showed me off.
Many butterflies gathered around me now that I was like a tulip.
Everyone says, 'What a beautiful tulip.'

Even though they didn't even look at me when I was a Komatsuna.
The butterflies gathered once I became like a tulip.
So I couldn't say that I was actually a Komatsuna.
I desperately tried to be a tulip.

That was very painful.

Before I knew it, I had convinced myself that I was a tulip.
I suppressed my feelings as a Komatsuna.
Even though I felt painful, I lost track of my own feelings.
Everyone praises me, yet I always feel painful somehow.

You're a Komatsuna, so why are you pretending to be a tulip?
One day, a tulip spoke to me.
You wouldn't understand, you who have been a tulip since birth.
I had to be a tulip.

That's strange.
There are all kinds of tulips, you know.
Besides, isn't a Komatsuna a wonderful vegetable full of nutrients?
It's a waste to hide that.

I was surprised.
No one had ever said such a thing to me before.
If I wasn't a tulip, I would be scolded or disappoint people.
They wouldn't even look at me.

That's strange.
Komatsuna has its own merits, and tulips have theirs.
The ones who gathered around you thinking you were a tulip don't see the real you.
They only like the version of you that is convenient for them.

You are desperately pretending to be a tulip.
But then, you won't be found by someone who thinks the real you, the Komatsuna, is good.
Is it really that important to have people who want a tulip from a Komatsuna?
I think the real you, the Komatsuna, is more wonderful than you pretending to be a tulip.

I am a tulip, so I cannot become a Komatsuna.
I wouldn't try to become a rose just for someone who says they like roses.
If there is someone who says they like tulips, that is enough for me.
You should just aim to be the best Komatsuna among all Komatsuna.

Of course, it doesn't have to be the best, though.

I became friends with the tulip who saw me as a Komatsuna.
The tulip praised the good points of me as a Komatsuna.
I never knew it would be this happy to have myself accepted for who I am.
I wouldn't have realized this if I had kept pretending to be a tulip.

I am a Komatsuna.
I have been a Komatsuna since I was born.
I am a vegetable rich in vitamins, iron, and calcium.
My flowers aren't very well known, but they are yellow and lovely.

Hello. This is Hanemiya.
When I was suffering from mental health issues, there was a period where I read many psychology books.
I was born into a family where being a tulip was absolute, and I was trying to be a tulip.

When I was struggling, the books by Teizo Kato were what made me feel at ease.

Komatsuna has its own merits.
There are people who will say that Komatsuna is good.

Oh, komatsuna and tulips are metaphors that appeared briefly in the book.
I have no intention of belittling komatsuna, nor do I intend to treat tulips as something special.
I like komatsuna ohitashi.

Thank you for reading.
This was Hanemiya.