A primary school teacher took his students for picnic to a countryside park. As the teacher and his students entered the park, one of the kids noticed something unusual in the bushes. He in a jiffy went to it and was observing something very curiously. After a deep thought he called his teacher and said very innocently “sir the little creature has got struck in a mesh, we must save it”. The teacher after keenly seeing the creature told the kid to join other students and leave it as it is. The kid insisted teacher to help out the little creature. The teacher strongly refused and even warned him not to touch it in any case. The kid left with moist eyes and with will and determination to save the helpless creature. 

After sometime he dodged the teacher and pulled out the creature out of the mesh. His excitement vanished as soon as he found his teacher just next to him. The teacher with disappointment told the little kid, “son you had good intentions I never doubt, rather I should appreciate how kind and helpful (you thought) you were to this baby butterfly (Pupa), but look you have almost killed it. This mesh is cocoon (Cocoon is nothing but extra cells that exposes to outer environment to protect pupa) and butterflies grow inside them.  The life journey of butterflies starts from here. The baby butterfly you thought you saved is unable to fly properly because its wings are not grown strong enough; the more they strike the cocoon, the stronger their wings grow and the higher they can fly. Your help indeed bring the butterfly early to world (gave it early success) but it will suffer for the longer run. It can’t fly higher as its wings are weak and it can’t sustain with those who hit the cocoon strongest. It was its struggle. It was its fight to come out of this not yours. ”

This story teaches us very important lesson. The shortcuts or privileges may seem to be blessing but are curse (for longer run). They restrict our flights. It’s almost instinctive we want easier ways and privileges to get few things done. Remember you may get positions by shortcuts or privileges but success is not guaranteed.  Carelessly we compromise with both our quality and efficiency. When we fight our battles by ourselves without taking the help from others or without involving others we develop necessary skills and art to sustain the worst. When we fight for what we want without getting help our inner strength evolves constantly. Upon reflection you will find yourselves winning all the time (during ups and downs). It’s precisely at such times when ecosystem will discourage you.

We all have demons in our lives. Often life is suffering. There is beauty to the suffering, but the cold hard truth of the world is that the time is relentless. The world continues to spin regardless of your emotions, feelings and circumstances. Thus, in our journey of life we must challenge and remove our own obstacles. There is also beauty in recognizing that everyone else is climbing the similar, but entirely different hills. We should always follow the silver rule while climbing the mountain “do unto others as you would want done unto you”.

We sometimes feel exhausted, thirsty and hungry while climbing the mountain but that’s quite natural. Remember the famous saying “the mountain will exhaust you before it is able to give you its view”. Never give up, keep hitting the cocoon until it breaks and you come out of it the strongest. If you are tired take rest but never stop climbing the mountain. The circumstances may discourage you. The rain, the snow, the sloppy terrains, the thirst and the hunger; they are just distractions. Uphold the commitments and live your dream.

(The Author is freelance columnist. Email: shabeee121@gmail.com