Life Lesson From The Baby Giraffe

I’m currently in Kenya, and I got to spend my Saturday at the Hells Gate National Park. As we were driving through the park, we got to sight a lot of giraffes, big and small. Our tour guide, Charles, pointing to a baby giraffe in the distance, shared an intriguing titbit with us: when a mother giraffe gives birth, she actually kicks her newborn so that it can stand on its feet.

That piece of information immediately triggered the memory of a story I had read years ago. As soon as I got back to the hotel, I couldn’t resist the urge to search for it online. After some online digging, I managed to locate this story written by Prakash Iyer, titled Life Lesson From A Baby Giraffe.

Let me now share with you the reproduced story from the provided link

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Baby giraffes never go to school. But they learn a very important lesson rather early in life. A lesson that all of us would do well to remember.

The birth of a baby giraffe is quite an earth-shaking event. The baby falls from its mother’s womb, some eight feet above the ground. It shrivels up and lies still, too weak to move.

The mother giraffe lovingly lowers her neck to smooch the baby giraffe. And then something incredible happens. She lifts her long leg and kicks the baby giraffe, sending it flying up in the air and tumbling down on the ground. As the baby lies curled up, the mother kicks the baby again. And again. Until the baby giraffe, still trembling and tired, pushes its limbs and, for the first time, learns to stand on its feet.

Happy to see the baby standing on its own feet, the mother giraffe comes over and gives it yet another kick. The baby giraffe falls one more time but now quickly recovers and stands up. Mama Giraffe is delighted. 

She knows that her baby has learnt an important lesson: Never mind how hard you fall, always remember to pick yourself up and get back on your feet.

Why does the mother giraffe do this? She knows that lions and leopards love giraffe meat. So unless the baby giraffe quickly learns to stand and run with the pack – it will have no chance of survival. Most of us, though, are not quite as lucky as baby giraffes. No one teaches us to stand up every time we fall. When we fail, when we are down, we just give up. No one kicks us out of our comfort zone to remind us that to survive and succeed, we need to learn to get back on our feet.

Learning to win in life is quite like learning to ride a bicycle. As you start to ride, you might fall and get bruised. It doesn’t matter. You need to get back up and continue to ride. Fall one more time? Get back up again. That’s all it takes. Learn to get back up every time you fall.

And just remember one more thing. Next time you find a friend or a parent kicking you, don’t get upset with them. Like the mother giraffe, they may only be trying to teach you one of life’s most important lessons. It doesn’t matter how many times you fall. What matters is your ability to pick yourself up and stand on your feet once again.