Lesson From Giraffe

Baby giraffes never go to school.
But they learn a very important
lesson rather early in life. A
lesson that all of us would do
well to remember. The birth of
a baby giraffe is quite an earth-
shaking event. The baby falls
from its mother's womb, some
eight feet above the ground. It
shrivels up and lies still, too
weak to move. The mother
giraffe lovingly lowers her neck
to smooch the baby giraffe. And
then something unbelievable
happens. She lifts her long leg
and kicks the baby giraffe,
sending it flying up in the air
and tumbling down on the
ground. As the baby lies curled
up, the mother kicks the baby
again and again until the baby
giraffe, still trembling and tired,
pushes its limbs and for the first
time learns to stand on its feet.
Happy to see the baby standing
on its own feet, the mother
giraffe comes over and gives it
yet another kick. The baby
giraffe falls one more time, but
now quickly recovers and stands
up.

Mama Giraffe is delighted. She
knows that her baby has learnt
an important lesson: Never
mind how hard you fall, always
remember to pick yourself up
and get back on your feet.
Why does the mother giraffe do
this? She knows that lions and
leopards love giraffe meat. So
unless the baby giraffe quickly
learns to stand and run with the
pack, it will have no chance of
survival.

Most of us need to learn from
the baby giraffes. We need to
learn to stand up every time we
fall. When we fail, when we are
down, we just give up. No one
kicks us out of our comfort
zone to remind us that to
survive and succeed, we need to
learn to get back on our feet.