The Fox and the grapes

 

Do you remember the story from Panchatantra about the fox and the grapes? Let me tell you the gist of the story. A fox sees beautiful grapes hanging on the tree and tries to grab them. He tries many times but is not able to get them. Finally he leaves and convinces himself that grapes are sour. Now my question is what would you have done if you were in place of fox? Would you have said the same thing to yourself or would you have got heartbroken and plunged into depression about not succeeding? Alternatively would you have kept trying relentlessly without assesing the facts of the situation? There are different ways in which a person reacts to failure. But one thing is certain that over thinking about failure and not moving ahead is not the right thing to do. There is nothing is life that is above our state of contented existence. If life closes one door then it opens another door but the condition is that one has to keep knocking on different doors and knock with our full might. In other words, we must make the best of efforts but not fall prey to sadness if we don't succeed. Every problem in life gives lessons.
In some sense we can also say that the fox from the story of Panchtantra was emotionally intelligent. After trying hard and not succeeding, he didn't kill himself over it rather he moved forward in a fine state. One may say that he belittled what he could not get or that he should have tried other means of getting the grapes. A more mature way to react might have been to understand that it's okay not to have these grapes and he might find equally delicious fruits elsewhere hanging at a lesser height . Anyhow ,when one exhausts all available ways of trying and still doesn't succeed then some lesson can also be learnt from the fox.