#032 STRUGGLE IS GOOD TO FLY
Once a little boy was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it.
The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought it new plants to eat.
One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly.
The little boy was thrilled to hear about the changes his caterpillar would go through. He watched every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out.
At first the boy was excited, but soon he became concerned. The butterfly was struggling so hard to get out! It looked like it couldn’t break free! It looked desperate! It looked like it was making no progress!
The boy was so concerned he decided to help. He ran to get scissors, and then walked back (because he had learned not to run with scissors…). He snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and the butterfly quickly emerged!
As the butterfly came out the boy was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand.
But neither happened!
The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.
It never was able to fly…
As the boy tried to figure out what had gone wrong his mother took him to talk to a scientist from a local college. He learned that the butterfly was SUPPOSED to struggle. In fact, the butterfly’s struggle to push its way through the tiny opening of the cocoon pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. Without the struggle, the butterfly would never, ever fly. The boy’s good intentions hurt the butterfly.
As you go through school, and life, keep in mind that struggling is an important part of any growth experience. In fact, it is the struggle that causes you to develop your ability to fly.
As instructors our gift to you is stronger wings…
Despite the kind heart of the boy, he didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small opening were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings to prepare itself for flying once it was out of the cocoon.
Our struggles in life develop our strengths. Without struggles we never grow and never get stronger, so it’s important for us to tackle challenges on our own, and not be relying on help from others.
Wow! Undoubtedly, the boy was saddened by the scientist's explanation :( But surely, he learned a great lesson that day. I once heard a similar story about a girl who thought her fish was drowning and she pulled it out of the water to "save it from dying". However, I think the morals of both stories are different. Indeed, struggle is necessary to learn, without struggle we don't have experiences, we won't be able to learn, in other words, we are nobody ... For me, struggling is a sign of courage and strength. People who don't fight to reach their dreams, never reach anything in life.
ReplyDeleteDon't be afraid to fight for your dreams, every day give the best of yourself! : )
BTW sometimes we think we are helping but in fact we aren't, we tend to give lots of advice and there are cases where we push people to do something they don't want (like when choosing a career) or don't understand (like experience in life such as relationships) however they have to experience it to get it, otherwise they won't listen to us. Failures are part of life, yet go on it's more important than everything, overcome fears, learn from your mistakes. :)
DeleteI think that this story definitely leaves a great lesson, perhaps a little hard for the child but that surely will never forget. In general for all people, it is important to learn to overcome adversities and learn from them. Personally, I believe that problems are an important part of life and once overcome, we should be grateful to have overcome them and be better people because of it. This story leaves me with that teaching that maybe one should not ask not to have problems but have the strength to overcome them and learn from them.
ReplyDeleteJampier Retamozo
Rite', Succeeding in dealing with problems gives and makes us more powerful, learning lessons help us to know how to confront different situations, so it is part of life and consequently necessary to improve ourselves.
DeleteI totally agree,a very common example are mother who overprotect their children.
ReplyDeleteWe always consider more important something we have achieved if we have fought for it,we can help others but there are limits,we all have to learn from ourselves.
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ReplyDeleteI think it is more satisfying for anyone to archieve their goals by their own efforts.Many people give advices so that we don't make mistakes than they made,but I think it is better make mistakes to learn from those and improve.
ReplyDeleteALMENDRA VELÀSQUEZ
There is a good history to explain that each person should have their own experiences, because only then can you value y fell satisfaction of you owns decisions. You can receive help of close people, but it’s your decision because in their good intention, they could change the achievement of your goals, for example.
ReplyDeleteThe only difference is that the butterfly didn´t choose its options, because the little boy tries to “help it” without realizing that it could hurt it. Instead he must have been patient and waiting for their natural process for the caterpillar to become a butterfly, because this struggle was necessary to change its swollen body and develop its wings.
Then, I believe that in life or you win o learn, so take your own risks.