This is the story of a butterfly. One day, a young boy found a cocoon of a butterfly and saw a small opening. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to squeeze its body through the tiny opening. Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go further. So the boy decided to help the butterfly so it can make its way through the hole. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon. The butterfly came through easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The young boy continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly.

What the boy in his kindness and haste did not understand was that 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.

The moral of the story is that sruggle is important to our development. Obstacles are exactly what we need in our lives. Going through life with no obstacles would leave us crippled. If we don’t experience pain or misery then happiness would never seem so exuberant. If we are given the answers to our homework then we will never be prepared for our exams. We can never go on to do great things like send astronauts to space. If we never experience a tough workout then our muscles are not forced to grow. If there is no competition or race to the top then there would be no sports or academic success. If we are handed everything in life and never have to work for it, we cannot grow as people. Struggle is essential to our livelihood and to the growth of society.

Brick walls and obstacles exist to signify how bad we want something. We just have to find it within ourselves to fight and overcome the struggle. We will come out as better people on the way out. Just have faith that what you are doing will make you better. You will make it through. You will grow as a person and help society become a better place!