A little boy sat at his grandfather’s picnic table crying. He was holding a jar that contained a dead butterfly, his butterfly. His grandfather sat down beside him and taught the boy a valuable life lesson.

Grandfather: “What’s the matter?”

The Boy: “My butterfly is dead and I took great care of him”

Grandfather: “How did you take care of him?”

The Boy: “I provided him with shelter and food. And when he was struggling to come out of the cocoon, I helped him by opening it for him.”

Grandfather: “ Ahhhh, I see. I can tell you loved the butterfly very much.”

The Boy: “I did. Why did the butterfly die?”

Grandfather: “You killed the butterfly.”

The Boy: “Me? What? How could that be?”

Grandfather: “In order for butterflies to survive and thrive in the world they must go through the struggle of fighting their way out of the cocoon. That is how they build their strength and stamina for the other challenges that come their way.”

People are no different from butterflies. Sometimes we must struggle, fight, and overcome challenges in order to thrive in our life. Struggles are not necessarily bad; they are needed. Accept them and go through them, don’t avoid them.

If you are a parent or mentor of some sort, resist the impulse to quickly lift someone out of pain’s way. Respect their journey. Adversity is a wonderful teacher and character builder…but only if you are a willing student. Don’t murder your dreams or the dreams of others just because things get hard.