3. 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.