He said, ” You become.  It takes a long time.  That’s why it doesn’t happen often to people who break easily or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept.  Generally by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby.  But these things do matter at all, because once you are Real, you cannot be ugly, except to people who do not understand.” – The Velveteen Rabbit, Margery Williams Bianco