Optimism

As a man walked down the street, he passed some elephants, and suddenly stopped. He was confused by the fact that those 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 anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not. He saw a trainer near by and asked why those 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 was enough to hold them. As they grew up, they were conditioned to believe they could not break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, 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?

Moral of the Story
"Never let yesterday's disappointments overshadow tomorrow's dreams. Break free, you can."