Some people, a mighty few, make things happen… some watch/observe it happen, and the majority asks: ‘what the heck happened?’ or alternatively has a story that is inaccurate. Because it is not that easy to see what actually happened…
Yesterday I saw a video of how two mature elephants rescued a baby elephant that fell into a pool.
I watched the short video several times. It is not so easy to see exactly what they did… But after 3-4 times, maybe even more, I saw exactly.
The mother was trying to do mother things… ineffective… had she continued doing that line of actions, the baby would have died.
The father (I can’t tell if it was a male, it could have been another female… but that other elephant was the archetypical father or mentor) forcefully pushed the mother, really forcefully, to help him guide the baby towards the ramp where it can walk up instead of staying in the deep end of the pool.
Most of us are that baby elephant: we stumble into some situation, and get scared and don’t know which direction to swim to get to firm and safe ground again.
And most of us pray to be rescued… because on our own we drown.
And again, most of us are the mother elephant: trying to do for the baby, instead of guiding it. It is all about OUR BABY, meaning US, and that renders us ineffective. We can’t even see that we are ineffective.
And then, some of us, the 1%, the ones that can see over our heads and see where we should be moving to, are the mentors, the teachers, the guides.
1%.
And then the 1% goes on with life, as regular… it is not about what we did… it is a matter of fact thing… It is all in a day’s work.
I used to be the mother elephant… but some time ago I “graduated” to the role of “father”.
And surprisingly my results multiplied.
And I haven’t been upset either… You do what you do, and I do what I can do. I can nudge you in the right direction, but it is entirely up to you to go in the direction I am nudging you.
If you don’t, I won’t bother nudging you more than a few times. You made your choice, now live with it.
It is a whole new world to live in the freedom of father.
Your behavior says only very little about me. Just like a male, I have only a small investment in you: the sperm is tiny, and I have billions where that came from.
The mother, on the other hand, can’t have another offspring for some time… so they will behave possessively, often at the expense of the child. Often making the child addicted to the role of being done for. Of not being willing to do anything on their own.
There is another path mother-child children take, the path of arrogance. “I want to do my way…”
Had that baby elephant been you… you would have refused to be pushed towards the ramp… and you would have drowned.
As a mentor, a teacher, a father, I am OK with that.
My job is to allow you to have free will… only suggest alternatives… i.e. point you, nudge you toward the ramp… so you can live a life worth living.
OK, back to the video:
Watch the four characters of this drama: mother, father, baby, and the elephant in another pen, in the background.
Comment below. A great lesson, if you are ready for it.
