” In a spell of dry weather, when the Birds could find very little to drink, a thirsty Crow found a pitcher with a little water in it. But the pitcher was high and had a narrow neck, and no matter how he tried, the Crow could not reach the water. The poor thing felt as if he must die of thirst.
Then an idea came to him. Picking up small pebbles, he dropped them into the pitcher one by one. With each pebble the water rose a little higher until at last it was near enough so he could drink.” —The Crow and the Pitcher, Aesop (1484)
The Crow and the Pitcher is my favorite fable by Aesop. A jar, a bird, and a feeling of thirst that we all understand. It’s simple but gets two points across: “necessity is the mother of invention”, and “persistence is key”.
Need it—Have it
The Crow’s thirst gave him the strength to put countless pebbles into the pitcher. A horrific pandemic gave us the manpower and funding to put out a vaccine faster than ever before. The point is, we always work harder when our backs are against the wall.
Just ask Muhammed Ali about the time he took down George Foreman. It was seven rounds of blows before Ali came storming back in the eighth. When he was seemingly out of the fight, he kicked things into overdrive.
We always have this strength within us. Sometimes it just takes extenuating circumstances to bring it out. Remember that the next time you feel tired or just don’t want to do something that day.
Keep at it
It was not the first pebble that raised the water high enough for the Crow to drink. I can only imagine how many pebbles it took for that water to get high enough. This is true in life, too. Some people spend their entire lives trying to achieve something. They grind and they grind, slowly dropping pebbles into a jar, never really knowing when the water will get to them. They can’t see it rise, so they never know how close they are to drinking it.
This unknown is what stops most people from finding true success. Rather than putting their heads down and working, they fly off to find another jar—one that may be fuller to begin with. I challenge you to ignore that unknown. Ignore the little voice in the back of your head telling you how far you are from your dreams. Stay persistent, because you never know just how close you are to success.
