A true story comes from an incident which occurred during a
businesstraining seminar.
To illustrate motivation, the trainer
asked one ofthe business executives in the audience to come forward.
The trainer said, "I want you to imagine that I have placed
a woodenbeam across the floor here and I would like for you to walk
from oneend of the beam to the other end. Would you do that for
$20?"
The man said that he would.
Then leader continued, "Now, I want you to imagine
that I take that same beam and raise it
up to the top of a forty-story
building and runit across the street to another tall building. Would you
still walkacross the beam for $20?"
This time the man answered that he would not.
"How about for a $100?"
"No!" the man emphasized.
The trainer forged ahead. "You have a child, right?"
"Yes."
"This time, what if I were to hold your child over the edge
of thebuilding and tell you that if you do not walk across the
beam I willdrop your child. Would you walk across?"
Surprisingly, the father hesitated for a beat, then smiled
and asked,"Which child do you have?"
The trainer, of course, was right in assuming that a
parent'sdevotion to a child is usually greater than almost any
amount of fearassociated with saving that child. Most parents love their
childrenfiercely and would do anything possible to help them.
An eastern newspaper reported that a train in Bangladesh
accidentallystruck a calf elephant. The mother elephant apparently
becameupset over the incident, for a little while later another
train camealong and spotted the female standing in the middle of the
track.Though the engineer blasted his horn, she would not budge.
When thetrain came to a halt, she began butting it with her head!
For fifteenminutes she hammered the engine, rendering it inoperable.
Oncesatisfied, she walked off into the jungle, stranding two
hundredpassengers for five hours while they waited for a
replacement engine.
Don't mess with her children!
Devotion to our own children is essential. Here are some
ways we canchannel our devotion into productive areas.
1. Devote TIME to your child. Quality time means nothing if
it rarelyoccurs. Spend time reading, laughing, playing, exploring,
learning,talking, and just sitting quietly together.
2. Devote POSITIVE ATTENTION to your child. Let her know she
isimportant by the way you speak and listen to her.
3. Devote LOVE to your child. He is one of the most
important peopleyou'll ever have the privilege of knowing.
4. Devote ENERGY to learning how to be the best parent
possible. Allof our children are different and require different skills
from us.
5. Devote YOURSELF, and you'll never regret the valuable
investment.
