When I was little, I loved the circus, and
what I liked most circuses, the animals were. I
drew attention especially to the elephant, which as I later learned was also
the animal of choice for most children.
During the function the huge beast did a gala to weight, size and enormous strength, but after the show and until shortly before returning to the scene, the elephant always remained tied to a small stake in the ground with a string to one of its legs. However, the stake was only a tiny piece of wood just buried a few inches on the ground, and although the chain was heavy and powerful it seemed obvious that an animal capable of starting a tree by the roots with his strength could be released easily from the stake and run.
The mystery still seems evident What subject? Why not flee? When I was 5 or 6 years still trusted in the wisdom of elders and then asked a teacher, a father or uncle, by the mystery of the elephant. Some of them told me that the elephant didn't escaped because he was trained. So I made the obvious question: If he is trained, why is he fettered? The truth is I do not recall having received any coherent response.
Over time I forgot the mystery of the elephant and the stake and only remembered it when I met others who they had ever did that question.
Some years ago I discovered luckily for me, that someone had been wise enough to find the answer. The elephant in the circus is no escaped because it has been tied to a stake since I was very small. I closed my eyes and imagined the elephant helpless newborn subject to the stake. I'm sure at that time the elephant pushed, pulled and sweated trying to break, despite his efforts did not succeed because that stake was really too hard for him. I imagined that the elephant was exhausted and slept, the next day he tried again, and the next day and the next ... Until one day, a terrible day for their future history, the animal accepted his powerlessness and resigned to his fate.
This huge and powerful elephant we see in the circus he didn't escape because he believes, poor, he can not. He has recorded the memories of the helplessness he felt after birth, and worse, is that he never again seriously question that memory, ever, ever tried to test its strength.
So, we're all a bit like the circus elephant, we go for the world tied to stakes that take away freedom us. We live thinking we can not do a lot of things simply because once, long ago, when we were kids, we try it and we could not it. Then, We then did the same that the elephant, we recorded in our memory this message "I could not, I can not and I will can never." We grew up taking this message that we set ourselves to us and so never, never we returned to try to free ourselves from the stake.
When sometimes, we feel the shackles and we make the chain sound, we look askance at the stake and think "I CAN NOT AND I WILL CAN NEVER"
During the function the huge beast did a gala to weight, size and enormous strength, but after the show and until shortly before returning to the scene, the elephant always remained tied to a small stake in the ground with a string to one of its legs. However, the stake was only a tiny piece of wood just buried a few inches on the ground, and although the chain was heavy and powerful it seemed obvious that an animal capable of starting a tree by the roots with his strength could be released easily from the stake and run.
The mystery still seems evident What subject? Why not flee? When I was 5 or 6 years still trusted in the wisdom of elders and then asked a teacher, a father or uncle, by the mystery of the elephant. Some of them told me that the elephant didn't escaped because he was trained. So I made the obvious question: If he is trained, why is he fettered? The truth is I do not recall having received any coherent response.
Over time I forgot the mystery of the elephant and the stake and only remembered it when I met others who they had ever did that question.
Some years ago I discovered luckily for me, that someone had been wise enough to find the answer. The elephant in the circus is no escaped because it has been tied to a stake since I was very small. I closed my eyes and imagined the elephant helpless newborn subject to the stake. I'm sure at that time the elephant pushed, pulled and sweated trying to break, despite his efforts did not succeed because that stake was really too hard for him. I imagined that the elephant was exhausted and slept, the next day he tried again, and the next day and the next ... Until one day, a terrible day for their future history, the animal accepted his powerlessness and resigned to his fate.
This huge and powerful elephant we see in the circus he didn't escape because he believes, poor, he can not. He has recorded the memories of the helplessness he felt after birth, and worse, is that he never again seriously question that memory, ever, ever tried to test its strength.
So, we're all a bit like the circus elephant, we go for the world tied to stakes that take away freedom us. We live thinking we can not do a lot of things simply because once, long ago, when we were kids, we try it and we could not it. Then, We then did the same that the elephant, we recorded in our memory this message "I could not, I can not and I will can never." We grew up taking this message that we set ourselves to us and so never, never we returned to try to free ourselves from the stake.
When sometimes, we feel the shackles and we make the chain sound, we look askance at the stake and think "I CAN NOT AND I WILL CAN NEVER"
Cuando yo era pequeño, me encantaban los circos, y lo que mas me gustaba de los circos, eran los animales. Me llamaba especialmente la atención el elefante, que como más tarde supe era también el animal preferido por casi todos los niños.
Durante la función la enorme bestia hacia gala de un peso,
un tamaño y una fuerza descomunales; pero después de la actuación y hasta poco
antes de volver al escenario, el elefante siempre permanecía atado a una
pequeña estaca clavada en el suelo con una cadena que aprisionaba una de sus
patas. Sin embargo, la estaca era solo un minúsculo pedazo de madera apenas
enterrado unos centímetros en el suelo, y aunque la cadena era gruesa y
poderosa me parecía obvio que un animal capaz de arrancar un árbol de cuajo con
su fuerza podría liberarse con facilidad de la estaca y huir.
El misterio sigue pareciéndome evidente ¿Qué le sujeta? ¿Por
qué no huye? Cuando yo tenía 5 o 6 años todavía confiaba en la sabiduría de los
mayores y entonces pregunté a un maestro, un padre o un tío, por el misterio
del elefante. Algunos de ellos me explicó que el elefante no se escapaba porque
estaba amaestrado. Hice entonces la pregunta
obvia: Si está amaestrado ¿por qué lo encadenan? La verdad es que no recuerdo
haber recibido ninguna respuesta coherente.
Con el tiempo olvidé el misterio del elefante y dela estaca
y sólo lo recordaba cuando me encontraba con otros que también se habían hecho
esa pregunta alguna vez.
Hace algunos años
descubrí por suerte para mi, que alguien había sido lo suficientemente sabio
como para encontrar la respuesta. El elefante del circo no escapa porque ha
estado atado a una estaca parecida desde que era muy pequeño. Cerré los ojos ye imaginé el indefenso
elefante recién nacido sujeto a la estaca. Estoy seguro que en aquel momento el
elefantito empujó, tiró y sudó tratando de soltarse; a pesar de sus esfuerzos
no lo consiguió porque aquella estaca era realmente demasiado dura para él.
Imaginé que el elefantito se dormía agotado y que al día siguiente lo volvía a
intentar, y al otro día, y al otro… Hasta que un día, un día terrible para su
historia futura, el animal aceptó su impotencia y se resignó a su destino.
Ese elefante enorme y poderoso que vemos en el circo no
escapa porque cree, pobre, que no puede. Tiene grabado el recuerdo de la
impotencia que sintió realmente poco después de nacer, y lo peor, es que jamás ha
vuelto a cuestionar seriamente ese recuerdo,
jamás, jamás intentó poner a prueba su fuerza.
Así es, todos somos un poco como el elefante del circo, vamos
por el mundo atados a ciento de estacas que nos resta libertad. Vivimos
pensando que no podemos hacer montones de cosas simplemente porque una vez,
hace tiempo, cuando éramos pequeños, lo intentamos y no lo conseguimos. Hicimos
entonces lo mismo del elefante, grabamos en nuestra memoria éste mensaje “no
puedo, ni puedo y nunca podré”. Hemos crecido llevando éste mensaje que nos
impusimos a nosotros mismos y por eso nunca, nunca volvimos a intentar
liberarnos de la estaca.
Cuando a veces sentimos los grilletes y hacemos sonar las
cadenas, miramos de reojo la estaca y pensamos “NO PUEDO Y NUNCA PODRÉ”
Jorge Bucay "El elefante encadenado"
