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Tuesday, May 13, 2014

The Elephant Rope

As a man was passing the elephants, he suddenly stopped,
 confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being 
held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. 
No chains, no cages. 
It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, 
break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” trainer said, 
“when they are very young and much smaller we use the same 
size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. 
As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot 
break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time
 break free from their bonds but because they believed
 they couldn't, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life
 hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, 
simply because we failed at it once before?

Failure is part of learning; we should never give up 
the struggle in life.


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