Break Free by Kyle Weis

I hadn't been to the zoo since I was young, so I went this past year.

I just strolled around, enjoying the animals. I went past the African animals, the lions, and baboons, those exhibits. I passed by the elephants, always one of my favorite exhibits, and I suddenly stopped, confused by something I had not ever noticed before. The trainers were washing the elephants. No, that's not the confusing part. What flabbergasted me (I do love that word) was that these titanic creatures were being held by only a minuscule rope tied to their front leg. Not a heavy log chain. They weren't trapped in a cage It was entirely apparent that the elephants could, at anytime, break free from their fetters, but for some reason they did not even try.

I spotted a trainer nearby, dunking his extended brush in some soapy water, and so I asked him. I asked him why these beautiful, magnificent, supremely powerful animals just stood there. Why they made no attempt to get away, or even to test the strength of the rope. "Well," he said to me, "when they are young and much smaller, we use the very same rope to tie them, and at that age, it's just enough to hold them. As they get older , they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They really believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free."

I was stunned.

These animals could at any time break free from that rope. But because they believed they couldn't, they were quite literally stuck right where they were.

I just wonder to myself...like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we can't do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

I need to go to the zoo more.