People have tried for ever to make that a false statement.
But the truth of the matter is, you can’t! Simply because silk is silk and a sow’s ear is just that, a sow’s ear! Another witty phrase is, ‘you can’t polish a turd,’ and people have gone above and beyond to prove that false by encapsulating a turd in epoxy or some such product to preserve it for posterity. Why, (I will never be able to figure out), would you want one sitting on your mantel? Since the mid 1500’s the proverb of; “can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear” has been around. Its meaning being, you can’t take something unrefined and make it refined or something unpleasant and make it pleasant.
The story of “My Fair Lady” is another attempt of refining something from the unrefined. Proving, the fore mentioned statement, (depending on what ending you have been exposed to), Eliza reverts back to her previous accent. And the reality of the situation at that time, Eliza would have never been accepted into the polite society of the ton, regardless of her expertise of speech, because of her origins.
So the fact remains ears are ears, silk is silk and poop is poop. There are purest that will contest that you can use the waste in the garden to grow the most beautiful flowers; trying to prove their point. But the transformation just isn’t there, the waste helps the flower grow but never becomes the flower.
There is one instance in life where this statement is the absolute truth. That is during the conversion that takes place when we become children of the King. All our faults, blemishes, sins etc. are washed away and we become new. It is an opportunity for anyone to be refined from the unrefined or from a pigs ear, if you will. Before sin, we were made in the image of God, and through salvation, we can return to that refinement, and live eternally.
As parents we need to teach our children to be the best they can be. But we must help them grow to their potential and present them the opportunity for refinement. Stay in the Word with them on a daily basis, even if it is only one verse a day.
We as authors will, like in My Fair Lady, bring our characters from nothing into something. We do this with diligence and hard work. But the soul is another matter, and there is only one way to refine that, purification by the blood of Jesus.
But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
II Peter 2:22
For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Acts 17:28
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I John 1:9
Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
Romans 6:4