What are we running for...?
Let me begin with a story...
Once in a village lived a little boy who was very athletic and for whom winning was everything.
One day, that boy participated in running competition held in village. In that competition, he competed with other two young boys. Race commenced, crowd cheered and waved at him. Boy called on his determination and strength, he won and came first. Little boy felt proud.
Later second race was called and in this race two young and fit challengers came forward to run in competition with little boy. Once again little boy finished first. Crowd was ecstatic and cheered and waved at that boy.
There an old man was watching all this. Little boy who felt proud and more important and started to plead "Another race..!!Another race..!!
Seeing this, wise old man stepped forward and with little boy he presented two new challengers. Among new challengers, one was a frail old lady and other was blind man.
Little boy was confused and asked , "What's this? this is no race..!!
Old man replied, "Race..!!"
After all were set on starting line, race started and boy was only one to finish that race, leaving other two challengers standing at the starting line.
Little boy raised his arms in delight, but to his surprise this time no one from the crowd was cheering and everyone was looking at him silently.
"What happened? Why are people not cheering??", little boy asked old man.
Old man replied, "Race again but this time finish together.."
Little boy thought for a while and then again went to the starting line and stood in middle of Old lady and blind man. Then he took both of them by hand and started to walk slowly and at last crossed that finish line.
This time at the end of the race crowd smiled and cheered and waved at the end of the race.
Little boy felt proud but still didn't understand why crowd was not cheering him before but now when all three of them finished race together. So he asked old man about it.
Old man replied, "little boy, in this race you have won much more than what you won in any other race..!! You have won people's respect.."
To empower others is to empower oneself and ending the article with the following quotes
"Plant flowers in others' gardens and your life becomes bouquet"
-- Author Unknown
"You may not have saved a lot of money in your life, but if you have saved a lot of heartaches for other folks, you are a pretty rich man"
-- Seth Parker
As always, perspectives are invited and appreciated!
Co-Founder at eLearning Partners | Free Masterclass: Successfully build, launch, and distribute your eLearning program or online course every time
3 年Makes good sense. Loved this.
Global Funding & Project Development Expert - VP @The Datestone Group
3 年You can race around the World yet never truly accomplish anything being fast, by ones self. Great success come with a team. Over time runners in the lead give a Hand Up to their competition. Samsung, Apple & Microsoft do it all the time. Each company depending on the accuracies and timeliness of the other.
Senior Mechanical Engineer at AKOS Energy Corp
3 年Shivaraj nice one as usual ??
Powerful story, thanks for sharing it Shivaraj! I think especially these hard times many people should stand at the starting line with the old lady and the blind man to recognize the importance of #generosity and more importantly the moral of the story: “lifting up others is the real reward you can win and what can change the world around you”.