courtesy of Paulo Coelho's blog:
Two young kangaroos were playing in the forest when they fell into a very deep pit. They tried to jump out but couldn’t jump high enough to get out of the hole.
Meanwhile, a big group of kangaroos started gathering above the pit – the pit was very deep and the gathered onlookers shouted to the two young kangaroos that it was impossible for them to get out. The older one of the two kangaroos heard the disheartening words of the spectators and after a while gave up and fell asleep, whilst the younger kept jumping and trying harder.
It started getting dark in the forest and the group started shouting louder to the younger kangaroo to give up and stop as they believed there was no hope, but the young kangaroo was determined and he continued jumping even harder.
Finally, he managed to jump out of the hole – the spectators were shocked and asked the kangaroo, “When we had told you so many times that it was impossible to get out, what was the reason that you tried even harder?”
The kangaroo was shocked because he had not heard their discouraging shouts from the hole as he was partially deaf. As he couldn’t hear anything in the pit he thought they were all gathered there to cheer him on, encouraging him to jump out. He told them, “looking at all of you standing there cheering me gave me the strength to succeed in my mission of getting out of the pit.”
This is a simple story with a very powerful lesson - Always remember the affect your words have on others. Your encouraging words have the potential to lift someone up and help them in achieving great things. Whilst, your negative words can cause deep hurt. Don’t let your words be the reason that someone is discouraged to continue trying to achieve their dream.
