Chennai
Speakers Forum
Project
# 6
Pull-Push
Toastmasters – We all know the story of the
hare and the tortoise, don’t we? How many of you think that the moral of the story
is “Slow and steady wins the race”? But what If I told you that is
not the only moral of the story?Do you know what happened after
the race? Do you want to know that?[Expecting a
response]
IMAGINE - you were at the finish
line of that race. The hare came whooshing past,
smiling and sweating, staggering and
swaggering at having surely won the race , can you imagine what would have been
the look on his face when he saw the tortoise sitting there chewing green
cabbage?
He was baffled, confused and thought he was
having hallucinations. But after having a carrot and still seeing the tortoise
patiently chewing away decided he indeed had lost.
He went up to the tortoise and with great
sportsmanship said “So you have won, fair and square. Congratulations. I should
not have been overconfident and should not have taken the nap. What do you
think?”
The tortoise, weary after the long race,
smiled feebly and said “Thank you. Yes you were over confident and should not
have taken the nap. But I think there was a way we both could have won.”
The hare astonished remarked “We, both,
win. Then who loses?”
By this time a small crowd had gathered
around.
The cow exclaimed “Ooooooooooo... how is
that possible?”
The goat said “meeeeehhhhh, Impossible”.
The donkey started laughing “ heeeee haw
heee haw, The tortoise has gone mad”.
Amid this entire din, the tortoise smiled
and said “We all believe a race is to be won by a single person. All the others
lose. That basically is what you define as a race. You ‘PUSH’ yourself forward
to be the first. But think what would have happened if the hare had taken me on
his back and we both had crossed the line together, or if I had woken up the
hare on seeing him sleeping? “
The crowd murmured...”Oh what a brilliant idea
... why didn’t we think of it.... the tortoise makes no sense...told you.. he
is as dumb as a dormouse.” The hare was intently looking at the tortoise and
trying to figure out the meaning of the words.
He slowly nodded his head in
agreement and said “Oh wise tortoise, what you say makes sense
and I now see how foolish I was to ‘race’ against you. Life is a race only
because people are PUSHing themselves. We never stop and see who is lagging
behind and never ever try to PULL them up so that we together can enjoy the
benefits.”
The crowd was stunned; silence was reigning
supreme as each one tried to figure out the implications and impact of these
words. The cow stopped chewing cuds, the goat stopped braiding his “goatee” and
the donkey as usual was “dumb”struck.
The tortoise with a contented smile on his
face said. “In life we all have a choice, that of Push vs Pull. Performance vs
Progress... Activities
vs. Accomplishments. Many of us always chose the former. We always
push for performing better which is why we enter into a race. All we hear is
that Life is a Rat Race. No offence to you dear rat. But for how long do you
run? Forever? How many of us have ever
stopped , looked back, saw people lagging behind , went back, pulled them up
and progressed together towards the goal.
One complements the other , each pulls the other along . The progress
may be slow, but it is a progress nonetheless. This way we all benefit and we
all share our progress.
Life then would not be a race but a GRACE
With that ... the
tortoise entered his shell and went to sleep.
Without continual growth and
progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.
Coming together is a beginning;
keeping together is progress; working together is success.
Progress lies not in enhancing
what is, but in advancing toward what will be.
And that Toastmasters is the moral of the story.
Oh ! I still have a few minutes time... Do
you know what happened after the all the rats had jumped into the sea by the
song of the pied piper? [No....?] They
all died....
Thank you.
No comments:
Post a Comment