Who's the Victim: Who's the Bully?

[Leopardus]

I'm sure many of you have seen this by now.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeCDAAf28LI

Ritchard Gale's story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xVBPiZtgYCE

Casey Heynes's story:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AUCIVdSims

This reminds me of a story called The Elephant and the Rope.  If you look at Casey, he just takes it. He's the elephant (regarding the story, not his weight). You can tell he doesn't want to fight nor does he know how to fight. But, he's so much bigger and stronger that he actually picks Ritchard up and SLAMS him to the ground - leaving Ritchard a limping disaster!

Ritchard, on the other hand, punches Casey in the face and continues on with the support of his friends, one of whom is actually working the camera that caught it.

The Elephant and the Rope:

As I was passing the elephants, I suddenly stopped, confused by the fact that these huge creatures were being held by only a small rope tied to their front leg. No chains, no cages. It was obvious that the elephants could, at anytime, break away from their bonds but for some reason, they did not.

I saw a trainer nearby and asked why these beautiful, magnificent animals just stood there and made no attempt to get away. “Well,” he said, “when they are very young and much smaller we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it’s enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”

I was amazed. These animals could at any time break free from their bonds but because they believed they couldn’t, they were stuck right where they were.

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?

How many of us are being held back by old, outdated beliefs that no longer serve us? How many of us have avoided trying something new because of a limiting belief? Worse, how many of us are being held back by someone else’s limiting beliefs?

Whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve!

[BellaPup]

On the youtube’s:

I’m still bound by some of those ropes from my childhood, and I’m 47…. Much like Casey, I too was physically bullied, not by those more well off or smarter then I but by those that were actually at the other end of the spectrum. Those peers above me, so to speak, did however look down on me often with such vile words and visual torment, not physical but very much as damaging. I must say I do now see Richards side of things, not the claims that he was bullied first but the fact that he very much appears to be a young boy that is struggling in a broken home. Can he make decisions on his own without his father coaching, is this behavior a glimpse of what his life is like in general?

However, I still find myself sympathizing with Casey, I’m not sure I really see the sincerity in Richards apology or his claims of being first bullied, but it’s hard to come to any true form of understanding in a short youtube clip, a short clip in ones childhood.


My thoughts:

Like the elephants, how many of us go through life hanging onto a belief that we cannot do something, simply because we failed at it once before?
How many of us are being held back by old, outdated beliefs that no longer serve us? How many of us have avoided trying something new because of a limiting belief? Worse, how many of us are being held back by someone else’s limiting beliefs?

Many of us I fear.. Hard part is, for those that actually recognize it for themselves, is that it can take years and years to break free from the “chains that bind”, some can do it with no outside help, others need counseling and still others need all this as well as help from modern medicine. Oh, and an understanding spouse/best friend can make all the difference in the world! Casey learned early the true friends are the ones that don’t run but stay at ones side, like his sister..

Whatever you can conceive and believe, you can achieve!

So, if you need a guiding hand, find it, grab it… Times a wasting, do it now and Enjoy the rest of Your life, not someone else’s or what they want you to be.. But Yours!!