Many years ago in a small town there lived a mayor who everyone knew and loved.
One day this mayor decided to visit the travelling circus which had just come to his town. When he arrived, the show master greeted him and after shaking hands slapped him on the back. The show master insisted that the mayor take a quick tour behind the scenes, before the show started.
So off they went, first visiting the tent where all the circus animals were kept. When the two stepped inside the tent - the mayor’s eyes widened. As he looked around he saw tigers, giraffes, bears, lions, and in a far corner of the tent he spotted a young elephant around whose leg was wrapped an enormous metal chain, which tied him to a thick wooden pole.
As the mayor's attention was drawn to the other side of the tent, he noticed an enormous elephant. But after looking closer, he jumped and pointed a quivering finger…because the enormous elephant was only tied to a pole with a thin rope no thicker than your little finger. A rope which the enormous elephant could have easily snapped with a flick of his leg.
The mayor quizzed the show master, “Don’t you have this backwards? Shouldn’t the small elephant have the thin rope and the large elephant have the thick chain?”
The show master smiled, and responded, “That’s what you would expect, isn’t it?” He continued, “But we have found that when an elephant is young, that is when they try their hardest to break free and so they require the most restraint and the thickest chains. “But by the time they become much larger and stronger their will has been broken. They have come to think it is impossible to break free. And so they cease trying. Thus all they need is a thin little rope, and they will never try to move away from their pole.”
Many of us are like that large strong elephant. What ties us to our “poles” in life is not a thick metal chain, or even a string, but our fears and past failures which haunt us. Maybe we tried to do something at some point in life, but were laughed at and criticized. Maybe we were told that we weren’t good enough.
It is the negative experiences from our past which hold us back from being what we could, or are called, to be. We feel trapped by our circumstances and unable to step into the freedoms out there awaiting us. Even though our capabilities grow and our ability to reach out and lay hold of freedom gets stronger as we grow older, we stop trying because our will has been broken.
Yet all we need to see is that string wrapped around our legs and acknowledge the fears and insecurities which at times feel so debilitating are really tiny and weak in comparison to our actual strength and abilities that have been supressed for so long.
All we need to do is flick our legs to break the string -- and start walking.
So off they went, first visiting the tent where all the circus animals were kept. When the two stepped inside the tent - the mayor’s eyes widened. As he looked around he saw tigers, giraffes, bears, lions, and in a far corner of the tent he spotted a young elephant around whose leg was wrapped an enormous metal chain, which tied him to a thick wooden pole.
As the mayor's attention was drawn to the other side of the tent, he noticed an enormous elephant. But after looking closer, he jumped and pointed a quivering finger…because the enormous elephant was only tied to a pole with a thin rope no thicker than your little finger. A rope which the enormous elephant could have easily snapped with a flick of his leg.
The mayor quizzed the show master, “Don’t you have this backwards? Shouldn’t the small elephant have the thin rope and the large elephant have the thick chain?”
The show master smiled, and responded, “That’s what you would expect, isn’t it?” He continued, “But we have found that when an elephant is young, that is when they try their hardest to break free and so they require the most restraint and the thickest chains. “But by the time they become much larger and stronger their will has been broken. They have come to think it is impossible to break free. And so they cease trying. Thus all they need is a thin little rope, and they will never try to move away from their pole.”
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It is the negative experiences from our past which hold us back from being what we could, or are called, to be. We feel trapped by our circumstances and unable to step into the freedoms out there awaiting us. Even though our capabilities grow and our ability to reach out and lay hold of freedom gets stronger as we grow older, we stop trying because our will has been broken.
Yet all we need to see is that string wrapped around our legs and acknowledge the fears and insecurities which at times feel so debilitating are really tiny and weak in comparison to our actual strength and abilities that have been supressed for so long.
All we need to do is flick our legs to break the string -- and start walking.
The wonderful world outside the "tent" we all grow up in awaits the few who are brave enough to simply take a step forward -- and snap the string.
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