As a man was passing the elephants while visiting in India. He suddenly stopped, the man was confused by the fact that these huge animals were being held by only a thin rope tied to their front leg. It was obvious to the man that the elephants could with ease, at anytime, break away from their bonds. But for some reason they did not.
He asked a trainer nearby why these animals just stood there. Why do they make no attempt to simply snap the thin rope and get away?
“Well,” the elephant trainer said, “when they are still very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them up. At that age, it’s enough to hold them so they cannot escape. As the elephant's grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break the rope and they believe the rope will still hold them. So the elephants never try to break free once they have grown larger.”
The man was amazed. He realized these powerful animals could at any time break free from their bonds with ease. But because they believed they couldn’t, they were simply stuck right where they were tied.
Like the mighty elephant, many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something. Simply because we failed at it once before and gave up trying. Failure is part of life and learning. We should never give up the struggle in life or trying.
#Steemovation short story by
