A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the
moth come out of the cocoon. On the day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the
moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force the body through that little hole.
The moth seemed to be stuck and appeared to have stopped making progress. It seemed as
if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. The man, in his kindness,
decided to help the moth; so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit
of the cocoon. The moth then emerged easily. But its body was swollen and small, its wings
wrinkled and shriveled. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at
any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to and able to support the body, which
would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its
life crawling around with a small, swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to
fly. The man in his kindness and haste did not understand that the struggle required for
the moth to get through the tiny opening was necessary to force fluid from the body of the
moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight upon achieving its freedom from
the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth
of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our
life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we
could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets, and don't
forget the power in the struggle.
