As a man (pass) the elephants, he suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope (tie) to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at any time, break away from their bonds, for some reason, they did not.
He saw a trainer nearby and asked why these animals just stood there and made no attempt (get) away. "Well," the trainer said, "when they are very young and much (small) we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, is enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe rope can still hold them, so they never try."
The man was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn't, they were (stick) right where they were.
Like the elephants, how many of us go through life (hang) onto a belief that we cannot do something, (simple) because we failed at it once before?
Failure is part of learning; we should never give up the struggle in life.
