Story of the Butterfly

One day a woman noticed a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon.

It had managed to make a tiny hole, but couldn’t get its body through. It was too big for the small opening.

Several hours went by.

The woman watched as the butterfly twisted, pushed, and squirmed. But still, it did not emerge from the cocoon.

Her heart filled with sadness and compassion for the butterfly. It looked exhausted and like it was stuck.

So, the woman decided to help.

She took a pair of scissors and cut a small hole in the cocoon, hoping that this would make it easier for the butterfly to get out.

It did. The butterfly emerged easily. However, its wings were small and shriveled.

The woman waited for the butterfly to open its wings and fly away, but nothing happened. Instead, the butterfly just wriggled around and ended up spending the rest of its brief life crawling on the ground.

What the woman did not realize was that the struggle required to get out of the tightly bound cocoon was necessary for the butterfly to strengthen its wings.

It needed the struggle in order to be able to fly.

(Adapted from a parable floating around the web.)