Flamingos are loved for their beautiful pink color, but some are different. Sophia is a seven year old flamingo who lives in a saline lake far from the ocean. She lives in Africa at Lake Linalgua. She has two loving parents who work together, not too far away from their saline lake. While Sophia’s parents are at work, Sophia is busy at school. At school, Sophia gets a lot of attention – maybe too much attention, but it isn’t because of her talents or success that she is noticed. Sophia doesn’t care to tell her parents about the attention she gets at school because she doesn’t want her parents to worry about her, she is ashamed and embarrassed.

One day as Sophia was walking to school, as she did each morning, she ran into a group of students from her school. Sophia wished she could breeze by them without having to talk, but Sophia doesn’t blend in very well. Sophia is not like all the other flamingos at her school; Sophia isn’t pink. 

Sophia was a very picky bird, and early on she realized that didn’t like the taste of shrimp like all the other flamingos. So, while all the other birds ate shrimp during snack time, providing the correct diet to maintain the pink hue of their feathers, she chose to forgo the shrimp altogether. Slowly over time, that pink hue shifted to a colorless-white. And, of course, this made her stand out from everybody else. 

On that morning, the group of students were blocking the entire sidewalk, and she knew what was coming. She braced herself for their ridicule as she inched towards them. When she slid through the crowd, all the other birds turned towards her, glaring and giggling as they pointed towards her white plumage. Their comments and laughs no longer stung as they once did, for this was a common occurrence for Sophia. 

Once Sophia arrived at school, she knew her day was about to get worse. Even though Sophia was used to all the attention, she wished that for once that attention could be for something positive. As she entered the building she took a deep breath, then walked through the doors as her cheeks grew more pale. Sophia’s least favorite part of the day was about to occur: morning snack time. While all the other flamingos were having their snack, which was always shrimp, she ate algae in the back corner of the room. Sophia, embarrassed that she could not stomach the snack all her peers ate, hung her head and glared at her bland white feathers..

Later that day, another bird came to Sophia with a bright smile on her face. When Sophia saw her, Sophia’s face lit up. It was one of the first times another bird was smiling at Sophia, not in humor or shock at Sophia’s appearance. Sophia had never seen this bird before, but she hoped she would introduce herself. She noticed that the other bird didn’t seem too interested in initiating the conversation. Sophia’s mind raced, she didn’t want to ruin this potential friendship. Sophia pondered her options before finally mustering up the courage to introduce herself. 

“Hi, um, I’m Sophia.”

While Sophia was still anxious the other bird stated that her name was Rosie! For the first time in a very long time, words just flowed out of Sophia’s mouth naturally. The birds talked and talked and talked, and after a long conversation, Rosie invited Sophia to the park after school. 

One thing that Sophia noticed is that Rosie never brought up Sophia’s difference from everyone else. Everyone that Sophia encountered always mentioned something about her color, white, not pink like all the other flamingos. Rosie took out her favorite snack, shrimp. Sophia realized the conversation that might follow and dreaded it. 

“So,” Rosie began, “Do you like shrimp?”

“Well, no. I don’t like the taste, and I especially don’t like the texture.” Sophia admitted sheepishly. 

“Oh, I understand that. I don’t really like eating algae, so I get it.” Rosie explained before continuing her snack and moving on. 

Sophia smiled. No one had ever been nice to her about her distaste for shrimp. She was overjoyed as she continued the conversation with her new friend. 

As Rosie left, Sophia recounted the day she had. Sophia had finally made a new friend, and she was the kindest friend in the world. Rosie understood that Sophia didn’t like shrimp. Rosie didn’t mind that the other flamingos talked about Sophia: she ignored them. Sophia planned to tell her parents about her day, and for the first time in her life, she was able to go home with a smile plastered across her face.