Sure, we all have weak moments where we feel someone "owes" us something, or that we really, really "deserve" to get this/have this happen for us. The people who have it right usually recognize this behavior is occurring within themselves and snap out of it. Unfortunately, that leaves the rest of the entitlement generation who seem to consistently have it wrong.
During this discussion, we shared stories about where we have helped people younger than us, and we also had to divulge that in some cases, we probably weren't doing them any justice because they could always rely on someone else to "handle" things for them. Sadly, I think this is one of the most rampant issues in America today - we are babying our nation's children to the point that they literally cannot fend for themselves. This creates weaker adults, who then marry other weaker adults and produce children three times as weak. The cycle goes on and on.
I was reading another article today, though, and came across a story similar to those we were sharing with one another, and it was accompanied by "The Tale Of The Butterfly," which I had actually never heard before. So, I will share it with you, and I encourage you to share it with others! Let's pass this thing around!
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A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared.
He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours
as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly.
He took a pair of scissors and
snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.
The butterfly emerged easily but
it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch it,
expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge
and expand enough to support the body.
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life
crawling around.
It was never able to fly.
What the man in his kindness
and haste did not understand:
The restricting cocoon and the struggle
required by the butterfly to get through the opening
was a way of forcing the fluid from the body
into the wings so that it would be ready
for flight once that was achieved.
Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We will not be as strong as we could have been
and we would never fly.
(Author Unknown)
How fitting it was to read and to realize that sometimes, despite our own best intentions, we stunt the growth of others that so desperately needs to happen. Trying to over-care and over-nurture others does not make you a bad person - quite the opposite, it makes you someone who genuinely wants to help. But there has to be a point where you have to step back and realize that your help is crippling an individual that needs to learn lessons their own way - and most times, the hard way.
Until next time,
