Processionary
caterpillars travel in long, undulating lines, one creature
behind the other. Jean Hanri Fabre, the French entomologist,
once lead a group of these caterpillars onto the rim of a large
flowerpot so that the leader of the procession found
himself nose to tail with the last caterpillar in the
procession, forming a circle without end or beginning.
Through sheer
force of habit and, of course, instinct, the ring of
caterpillars circled the flowerpot for seven days and seven
nights, until they died from exhaustion and starvation. An ample
supply of food was close at hand and plainly visible, but it was
outside the range of the circle, so the caterpillars continued
along the beaten path.
People often
behave in a similar way. Habit patterns and ways of thinking
become deeply established, and it seems easier and more
comforting to follow them than to cope with change, even when
that change may represent freedom, achievement, and success.
If someone
shouts, “Fire!” it is automatic to blindly follow the crowd, and
many thousands have needlessly died because of it. How many stop
to ask themselves: Is this really the best way out of here?
So many people
“miss the boat” because it's easier and more comforting to
follow — to follow without questioning the qualifications of the
people just ahead — than to do some independent thinking and
checking.
A hard thing
for most people to fully understand is that people in such
numbers can be so wrong, like the caterpillars going around and
around the edge of the flowerpot, with life and food just a
short distance away. If most people are living that way, it must
be right, they think. But a little checking will reveal that
throughout all recorded history the majority of mankind has an
unbroken record of being wrong about most things, especially
important things. For a time we thought the earth was flat and
later we thought the sun, stars, and planets traveled around the
Earth. Both ideas are now considered ridiculous, but at the time
they were believed and defended by the vast majority of
followers. In the hindsight of history we must have looked like
those caterpillars blindly following the follower out of habit
rather than stepping out of line to look for the truth.
It's difficult
for people to come to the understanding that only a small
minority of people ever really get the word about life, about
living abundantly and successfully. Success in the important
departments of life seldom comes naturally, no more naturally
than success at anything — a musical instrument, sports,
fly-fishing, tennis, golf, business, marriage, parenthood.</P<
span>
So, if you've
been trying to start in a new direction, you might do well to
remember the advice of Mary Pickford: breaking an old habit
isn't the end of the road; it's just a bend in the road. And
falling isn't failing, unless you don't get up.
Source: The
Essence of Success by Earl Nightingale. Edited by Carson V.
Conant.
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