Elephant Rope
- icmarquez
- Jun 23, 2019
- 4 min read
Image Source: Chuks Emma
A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants weren’t being kept in cages or held by the use of chains.
All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs.
As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants didn’t just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they didn’t try to at all.
Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.
The trainer replied;
“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.”
The only reason that the elephants weren’t breaking free and escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the belief that it just wasn’t possible.
Disclaimer: Story above is not mine.
Childhood Experience
Have you ever had those moments that you felt stuck because you just did not know how to proceed and there is no one else to guide and teach you?
You are not alone, I actually had this battle (from mid-February until mid-May) that I may even have had ‘mild depression’.
I just stopped enjoying the things I usually enjoy and I did not even feel like working at all. Everything just became a routine and I did not find significance in anything.
It was as if my mind cannot stop reliving the bad memories I had (my months of journey before and after my mother passed away), couple it with the multiple problems that started to add and pile up without anyone to confide to.
I guess this is a problem that is common to men for we are not as relational as women.
Thankfully, one of the greatest gifts God has given us humans is the ability to reflect and think.
And as I reflected back on my life during this year, together with the help of people’s feedback, I was made aware of the problems that I had.
However, identifying the roots of my problems was impossible apart from God’s help and His enabling hand.
He was the one who revealed to me the deep issues that I have within myself that hindered me to grow (He’s not stopping anytime by the way).
It turns out that my childhood experience played an integral part in shaping how I think, how I feel and how I respond today.
Just to be clear, I’m not blaming my childhood for it is part of how God masterfully designed and written my life.
I know there is a greater purpose why I went through all those pain.
Nonetheless, each one of us have been influenced greatly by our parents and the environment that we grew up in.
Some of you may come from dysfunctional families (again you are not alone), and it may be that you have some things against your parents (knowingly or unknowingly).
The point is, we all come from different backgrounds. And most of the time, the problems that each of us carry into adulthood stems from a bad childhood experience.
These baggage (wounds, hurts, etc.) are usually buried deep within the inner recesses of our consciousness.
Later in life, it is revealed in how we behave at work, in our relationships, and in how we handle and respond to different situations.
This is the same for our parents. They also had their share of bad experiences in their childhood which may be the reason why they acted that way to you or to their spouse.
Now come to think about it: How was your childhood experience?
Have you ever asked this question to yourself? How about your parents’ childhood experience, have you thought about it or tried to ask them about it?
We can only know so much about ourselves because most of the time, we are blinded into thinking that what we perceive is actually the reality.
However, this does not need to be the ‘truth’.
Let me share with you how I personally battled (and continue to battle) these ‘ineffective scripts’ and ‘wrong perceptions’; it is only by knowing the ‘truth’.
And the ‘truth’ can only be known in the Gospel!
The gospel is the good news that God became man in Jesus Christ. He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died – in our place.
Three days later he rose from the dead proving that He is the Son of God and offering the gift of salvation and forgiveness of sins to anyone who repents and believes in Him.
The Gospel has changed (and continues to change) my every way of thinking, my identity, my security and finally my actions.
Now, if we truly want to have a workplace that is geared towards excellence, it is important to note that this is only a fruit of a loving and caring environment.
When I say loving and caring, do we actually know and care for what other people around us are going through personally? Are we extending our help, support and understanding towards them?
A community/culture that has been cultivated to have loving and caring relationships naturally produce this kind of organization.
The fundamental truth is that human connection is important and we are all seeking for affirmation and acceptance.
So I encourage you, why not start getting to know your colleague personally? If there’s one very important thing I learned in life, it’s being intentional.
And those who left great legacies behind were intentional in building relationships with their people.
Scripture References:
“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 ESV
“and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 8:32 ESV
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:36 ESV
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