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Long time ago, somewhere in China, the Emperor was lounging on the deck of the royal palace one lazy afternoon.
He almost fell asleep when loud banging woke him from his reverie.
He looked around and saw no reason for the banging, but the banging continued.
He looked down and saw a cocoon on the marble floor. The banging came from that cocoon. 
He got really curious, and stayed with the banging cocoon for the whole afternoon, then the whole evening. Then he decided to watch it the whole night… Morning come, he continued his watch… but by midday he got tired.
“I am going to give this little fellow a break, I am going to let it out… it has banged enough,” he thought and with his pocket knife he carefully cut the cocoon open.
What came out of the cocoon is a wet swollen thing with little colorless wings. It never flew. It died that same afternoon.
The moral of the story: When you think you are cut off from light, when the going is really really tough, when all you can do is bang away to find your way: this is good news.
The banging, the effort, sends energy and life into the wings of the butterfly you are about to become. If someone took pity of you and helped you to emerge without you doing your own work, suffering, banging, you would come out not as a butterfly, beautiful, ready to take flight, but as a swollen half worm, half moth… No transformation.
Cherish times of harship… they are what you need to become a butterfly.
1 response so far ↓
1 mel // Jun 10, 2008 at 12:02 am
That was beautiful! Both of those tales… very very applicable to my situation right now. It’s nice to have a picture and story to those….those “things”…that happens to us in life and we’re confused about what they mean, if they have a purpose. As much as we might try to help someone who is in trouble…from minor to major things…maybe it’s best to let the person struggle on their own and eventually learn things the hard way. For example, will editing your child’s english paper assignments make them a better writer and give them a good grade….or will it just prevent them from learning important lessons? Will telling a friend to stop smoking…and then buying them nicotine patches…coax them into it when they’re not ready? Will it take emphesyma or cancer for them to learn the hard way? Loan a friend money….instead of letting them hit rock bottom and force themselves to get their butts moving and work smarter and save.
Thanks Sophie for the website. Just stumbled upon it…it’s a great resource! You are very wise! I’m a student also exotic dancer trying to get into escorting in a safe and sane manner. Your website is helping me!
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