Why Elephants Don't Run

--by mifo13, posted Sep 19, 2009

A number of years ago, I had the rather unique experience of being backstage in Madison Square Garden, in New York, during the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus.

As I was passing the elephants, I 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 any time, break away from their bonds but, for some reason, they did not. I saw a trainer near by and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away.

"Well," he 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 think the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free." I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but, because they believed they could not, 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?

- Author Unknown

2122 Reads

Posted by mifo13
Sep 19, 2009
Comments (5)

Readers Comments

dinakar wrote: That was a good post. But manyof the people in the present world more worse than the elephants. And so happens all the sucides and all other sthings. So hope this message passes to each and everyone any possible way.

nAvNiT wrote: Nice yaar. Gud msg.

MadeUSmile wrote: Wow! That actually gave me chills! I don't know what i expected from the title. But the magnitude of lesson contined is tremendous! Great story!

FairyBubbles wrote: Oh, nice one! thanks for the post.

warmth wrote: What a wonderful observation and reminding that one should never quit. Thanks a million for sharing this wonderful story

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