And the hare dares…
Attempt 1:
The hare began to list out the causes of his defeat in the race. He discussed the matter with family members and reached the conclusion that “The cause for his failure was his bad luck. His fate was not working well enough.”
The first thing hare did was …He visited an astrologer and a palmist. They advised him to perform some ritual to turn his bad luck into good luck. He wore gem stones on his fingers to gain power.
Ready with these new weapons, the hare challenged the tortoise to race with him. They agreed on a route and started off on the race. Hare ran at his best speed with full confidence in his ritual power and lucky stones. He had also worn his lucky color T-shirt on which his lucky number was printed.
The hare ran for some time. Then, on seeing that he was far ahead of the tortoise, he thought he’d sit under a tree for some time and relax before continuing the race. Sitting under the tree, he saw a field of carrots nearby. His mouth started watering and he was tempted to eat those juicy carrots. He couldn’t resist this temptation and ate enough juicy carrots to his great satisfaction. Soon he fell asleep.
Need any guessing for the end?
The hare was now able to see that he always had an “excuse” in his life. He had reasons for all his unsuccessful attempts.
He also saw the pointless and silly “becauses” such as: he failed in exams because a black cat crossed his path, he failed because he lost his lucky charm; he fell down from the staircases because Saturday was not lucky day for him, and many more such “becauses”.
He realized, “The cause in the incident was not luck, but inappropriate diagnosis of the cause.” The hare smiled and murmured, “We have excuses and reasons for our failure.” After understanding that, the hare carved on a tree trunk: “Give up your all reasonable “Becauses” and “Be Cause” in the matter.”
Attempt 2:
The hare again evaluated his performance. He realized that when he was taking a break on the race, he used to fall asleep and was unable to wake up at the right time. The cause of his defeat in this case was “not waking up at the right time.”
The hare again challenged the tortoise to race with him. After running for sometime, he reached the same tree. He saw the juicy carrots and couldn’t control his desire to have some. He sat down to eat the delicious carrots and soon felt the need for some rest.
But this time before taking a nap, he looked around and found a monkey sitting on a tree. The hare entrusted the monkey to wake him up when the tortoise would be about to reach near the tree. Then he fell asleep. The monkey was busy with his own routine and forgot to wake up the hare.
The end of the race was same as before.
Now the hare blamed the monkey for his failure. He was upset and felt that because of monkey’s negligence and carelessness he lost the race.
He met His coach, the tiger, and told him about the monkey’s irresponsible behavior.
The coach listened to him quietly. Then he asked the hare, “Whose responsibility was it to wake up on time? Who is accountable in this matter?” Hare got the answer. Hare showed dignity by accepting his accountability in the matter. Hare was able to see that most of the time in his life he passed on his own responsibilities to others.
Hare smiled and murmured “We always escape from being accountable.” The hare then carved another sentence on the tree trunk “Responsibility is not a burden. No one can impose responsibility on others.”
Attempt 3:
Hare was struggling to find out what was lacking in him. He understood that one should not sleep when one is working on a task.
He asked the tortoise to compete with him in a race again.
After running with handsome speed the hare reached near the field of carrots. He couldn’t resist his wish for having some carrots. So he sat down and ate enough juicy carrots till he felt little dozy. But this time he had decided that he would not fall asleep.
He took out his mobile phone and started gossiping with friends. He kept chatting and almost forgot that he was in a race. He argued, explained, and tried to convince his friend on some issue over the phone.
Can you imagine who overtook him?
He lost the race by wasting time in pointless discussion. This time the hare was able to see that whenever he was talking to anyone on the phone, he used to be unaware of his surroundings. He used to talk too much, and argued a lot even when it was not required. He continued fruitless conversations about right and wrong.
Hare smiled and murmured, “We always like to talk and only listen to what we like to hear.” The hare then sculpted on the tree trunk “When significant opportunities knock on our doors, we should be present there to grab it.”
Before fourth attempt:
Even after having enough unsuccessful attempts, it astonished everyone that the hare was neither upset nor disappointed. He was full of energy, power and enthusiasm for more attempts.
One early morning, the hare was casually practicing jogging for the next race. He reached near the tree where he used to fall asleep after eating the carrots.
He stopped there and asked himself authentically, “What is the “missing” factor in my attempts so far?” Suddenly the juicy carrots caught his sight; it seemed the smell and colour of those juicy carrots were telling the hare “leave all questions behind, forget every thing and just have me.”
Something clicked in the hare’s mind! He was now able to see the “missing” factor in his actions. He realized that his temptation for having carrots made him stray from his path. His overconfidence made him careless and negligent. It was his mistake that he used to sleep during the race.
Now the hare got an extraordinary distinction in his life; he realized the difference between having attachment and being committed. He could see his attachment with his “juicy carrots” and not being committed to the race.
He laughed and murmured “Carrots always call us; we have the choice to choose them or leave them.”
He inscribed on the tree trunk “Have courage to leave your juicy carrots behind, or they will come in the way of your opportunities and commitment.”
The hare began to run and shout with joy “I have a choice! And I choose!”
The hare rushed to meet his coach tiger at his den. The hare hugged his coach tiger. Hare thanked the tiger for his great support and encouragement.
Coach tiger acknowledged hare for listening to him, for taking action, for working consistently on the “missing” points, for facing his fears with courage and for creating possibilities to alter the end of the race.
After visiting his coach, the hare visited the tortoise. Hare acknowledged the tortoise for participating in the race during all his attempts. At the same time, the hare admitted that in earlier races, he had no real intention of winning the race. He ran just to defeat the tortoise.
The hare smiled and murmured, “Most of the time in our life; we enter into race not for our victory but to defeat others.”
This time the hare did not challenge the tortoise; rather, he invited and requested him to race with him. It was a simple invitation from hare to tortoise without past bitterness and rivalry. The tortoise accepted his invitation.
They agreed on a route and started off on the race.The hare was running this time to alter the end of that old story. Today hare was running with himself and for himself.He wanted victory not only for the race, but for altering his vision for life. He wanted victory over his fear of failure. He wanted victory on “the carrots’ call” which always came in the way of his success.
While running on the same old route, a black cat crossed the hare’s path to race; the hare tapped on her soft back and smiled. On his route further; the hare saw that monkey. He was sitting jobless on a branch of tree and was offering his sincere help to hare. Hare smiled and showed gratitude towards the monkey for asking.After few minutes passed on his route; his mobile phone was ringing but he rejected the call.
At the same time coincidentally the hare came across those delicious juicy carrots too. Those delicious juicy carrots were calling him.The hare looked at the inscription he had written on the tree trunk “Have courage to leave your juicy carrots behind, or they will come in the way of your opportunities and commitment.”
The hare smiled and murmured “the real contest or race is always between what you’ve done and what you’re capable of doing .you measure yourself against yourself and nobody else.”
And this time he ran non-stop from start to finish and reached the Finish Line before the tortoise. Finally, the hare was successful in his intention. He created the turn in the story and he loved it. By altering the end of the story he enabled himself to alter his “way of being”.
He won!
Kabir’s eyes were shining with excitement. He was able to relate his life with that of the hare. A miracle had happened in his life, too. He got insight that every test in our life makes us bitter or better , problems come in our life to make us or break us , choice is our whether we become victim or victor..!!
He realized that it was not his bad luck when he failed in math examination or the Karate tournament earlier; it was something which he did not do.The cause in his failure was that “he did not practice mathematics and “karate kata” throughout the academic year. He was able to see that he was always pampering himself in his life. He had been overconfident and negligent.
Kabir now realised that he used to watch TV programmes even when he had not completed his homework. He used to waste valuable time playing computer and video games. He used to give excuses to his mother when she asked him to help her in cleaning the house or to study. He failed as he was not committed to his studies, and also to other areas of his life. He had no value of his time as well as that of others. That is why he lost the trust and respect of other people.
Kabir further admitted that he never had true intention to study or work hard in his life. He was lazy and preferred to be in his comfort zone.He used to postpone or delay his homework needlessly.
He projected himself as a courageous person in front of his friends and family. But it was his pretense. He was afraid of failing.
After listening to the “Hare who dares”, Kabir was able to see the “juicy carrots” in his life which were holding him back for so long. They were TV programs, computer games, movies, video games, gossiping with friends and many more time wasting activities. These carrots used to drag him away from his studies as well as other important areas of life.
Tears rolled down from Kabir’s eyes. Mr. Dev asked him, “So what do you choose now?”
“I choose to be the hare who dares,” Kabir replied with tears, but felt complete within him.
Mr. Dev praised Kabir for his honesty and for confronting his pretense. He also acknowledged him for being a good listener. He said with a smile “when there is a breakdown; there is a possibility and behind every possibility there is a breakdown .Acceptance of the breakdown is the matter of acknowledgement to oneself.”
Kabir hugged and thanked Mr. Dev for his great support and for making a difference in his life by sharing “Hare who dares”.
