Syd wrote a blog post about Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer and his issues with the way the song and the television special deal with difference. You can read it here, but his main point is that because Rudolph is different he has to be extraordinarily useful in order to be accepted.

Now, I share some of Syd’s opinions. I don’t like the way Rudolph’s parents push for conformity and I am deeply disappointed in Santa for not loving Rudolph unconditionally—what is Santa for, if not that? But I interpret the end of the story much differently than Syd does.

It is not Rudolph who is redeemed (or any of the other “misfits”) in the story. He’s not accepted on the basis of extreme usefulness. The community feels his absence when he runs away. He’s welcomed back. It is after Rudolph comes back and the community has grown that his difference shines, so to speak. The community finds redemption and then Rudolph, simply by being who he is, ends up excelling.

I think the message is: be who you are and let the world change.