THE MAN AND THE BUTTERFLY. One day, a man found a butterfly cocoon. A small opening appeared in it, and he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its emerging body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped - this inevitable process of growth halted. The man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch, expecting and hoping that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body and it would fly away. Nothing so happened! In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly. What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand: the restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved. Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives: of course we do not wish for them as they make our lives more difficult and more overbearing than we believe we deserve. Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us, make our lives uninteresting and make us disinterested in changing and be insensitive to the ideal that most change requires a conscious dynamic change of gear and will and we should take on the belief that this is rarely effortless. We will not be as strong as we could have been and we would never have the necessary faculties to fly. Also, sometimes people should realise that people have to change by themselves, in their own time, at their own pace and in the right environment. Intervening just because one cares and is concerned is not a good enough justification. One has to know one has the blessing and the true, raw, personal interests of the one one is trying to help. The one being helped will only show true, sincere gratitude if she conspired it herself. She will only resent you if she isnt able to fly. It is hard to watch or walk away as you see the butterfly struggle. But sometimes it is the only thing one can do to know the butterfly will one day be able to fly.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 13:49:34 +0000