Life lessons from a popular childhood story

Growing up, I used to watch a lot of cartoons. I remember coming home from school every day with my siblings, we would gather up in the living room to watch some cartoons on TV. There was one particular show that I always like — it was the story about the turtle and the rabbit having a race.

I always have a soft spot for underdog stories so it's pretty easy for me to have a liking for that one. I was around 10 to 11 years old at that time so I was still young and never paid much attention to what cartoon shows were trying to teach us about.

It was not until later in my life that I realized as to its morals and lessons. To those of you who haven't got the chance to watch or read about the story of the turtle and the rabbit, here is how it goes (in my own version):

The turtle and the rabbit story

Once upon a time, a rabbit was being boastful about how fast he can run and can beat anyone in a race. He dared all the animals in the village and none was brave enough to accept his challenge. Then a turtle came, approached the rabbit and accepted to race with him.

The rabbit smirked and thought to himself, "How can this animal, so slow and sluggish, possibly beat me in a race? This is gonna be an easy win for me!"

As the race began, the rabbit quickly gained a huge lead over the turtle. He looked back after awhile and seeing how far the turtle is from him, he told himself, "I should just take a short nap by the tree and wait for him to catch up on me. Besides I can always get ahead of him anyway if I want to". So he took a nap under the shade of a tree nearby.

The turtle on the other hand, although moving at a much slower pace kept on going. He was determined to finish the race no matter what. Until such time, he was able to slip past the sleeping rabbit and went on to finish the race. The rabbit woke up upon the cheers of the other animals celebrating the turtle's victory and was shocked to know that he had just lost the race.

Morals and lessons

From the story, in my opinion, there are actually 3 morals and lessons we can learn from it:

1.) Be consistent and don't lose focus

Unlike the rabbit, the turtle was very consistent and never took his eyes off his goal. Even though odds were stacked against him, he was persistent and kept on going no matter what.

How many times have we set our sights on a goal, started working on it and after some time, we experience challenges and disappointments along the way, and then we quit.

What we must always keep in mind is that our journey towards something may be bumpy and slow but as long as we continue on and persist, we will eventually get to our destination just like the turtle did. It's okay to be slow but always be consistent.

2.) Take things seriously and don't be complacent

The rabbit, knowing that he has such a huge advantage over the turtle in terms of skills was too overconfident and never took the race seriously. To him, there was no need to put in much effort as he thought there was no way possible for the turtle to beat him.

Ever heard of the story of Allen Iverson? He was an NBA player and was pretty popular during his prime. But he doesn't like to participate in basketball practices. He was constantly arguing with his coaches over it. For him, it wasn't necessary anymore as he was very good already. This contributed to his downfall as no team would want to sign him up anymore because of his attitude.

In life, being complacent and not taking things seriously, even the small things, can have its consequences. One should not get too comfortable in one's position but instead aspire to constantly learn and improve every day. One must also learn to cultivate the habit of never taking anything for granted.

3.) Never be too proud of one's self

The rabbit, although gifted with speed and agility was more concerned with flaunting himself and boosting his ego. He thinks that by bringing others down, he will look good to others.

One should never be too proud of one's self. Even if you are good at something, never allow your ego to get ahead of you. Instead, why don't you use your strengths to benefit others?

Let's say you're good at cooking, rather than insulting the poor quality of a dish that is served at a restaurant, why don't you offer them your tips and opinion on how to do it better instead? I mean, isn't that a nice alternative than bringing others down?

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P.S. I would like to give kudos to @sauravrungta's work. His piece about why you can never satisfy anyone that is based on a childhood tale is where I drew the idea for this one.

Follow me: @andywong31

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Image sources:

All images courtesy of Pixabay