As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these 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 the ropes they were tied to but for some reason, they did not.
I saw a trainer near by and asked why these 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's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."
I 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.
I saw a trainer near by and asked why these 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's enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."
I 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?
Source: Saira-A told me abt it, Sahar emailed me abt it, National Geographic showed a programme on it too.
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9 comments:
That's one of the reasons why people in FAST don't even try to do assignments by themselves.
things improved towards the end, infact we girls always did our assignments on our own since always, woh alag aur buhat ghalat baat hai kay the T-A's thought differently
I was referring to the mainstream majority; and girls aren't majority are they? :)
jee bilqul,u were teaching at FAST, i heard...is that true?
I was a 'lab-engineer'. Used to conduct antenna theory labs. But I've left FAST (and regretting it now).
Is it really a matter of intellectual blindness that would hold us in a state that was retained because of a certain belief? Isn't this what we call compromise?
As social animals, human beings have to live with compromises, to their own will, and to their own freedom, of thought and of body!
For the stupid ones of us, the rope is more a blessing than a restraint!
Depends on the definition of the rope.
"For the stupid ones of us, the rope is more a blessing than a restraint!"
I wonder what the definition of stupid is here. Because to me stupid is a relative and cynical word. If we understand something only because we have been brainwashed or trained to understand since our childhood,that others dont understand doesnt make them stupid !
e.g. most of us think Atheists are "stupid" just because we have been brainwashed to believe that there is a God! How many of us non-stupid people actually try finding out if we are being stupid or not ?
mute spectator: if we agree that the 'quest for truth' is an absolute goal then it really is a matter of intellectual blindness.
the only time a person will willing 'compromise' this objective is when he assigns false value to maintaining the status quo. i say it is only intellectual blindness that leads one to this conclusion and the consequent 'compromise'.
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