One day, a fish was swimming near a river bank and heard a voice say, “How is the water?” The fish raised her head to see a monkey sitting on a tree. The fish smiled and replied,” The water is nice and warm.” The monkey felt a little jealous and wanted to make the fish feel bad. He said,” You should come out of the water and climb up this tree. The view is amazing.” The fish felt sad. She said, “I don’t know how to climb a tree, and I can’t survive without water. Seeing the fish’s sad face, the monkey made fun of the fish, telling her you are worthless if she cannot even climb a tree. After hearing this, the fish started thinking about this day and night and became depressed. She started thinking to herself, “Maybe the monkey is right. I am worthless if I cannot even climb a tree.” Another fish in the river noticed the fish looked so sad and asked her why she was so depressed. The fish told her everything the monkey said. The other fish said, If the monkey thinks you are worthless because you can’t climb a tree, then the monkey is worthless as well because it can’t swim or live underwater. Hearing this, the fish realized how gifted she was and how wrong it was for her to think of herself as worthless. A few days later, the monkey slipped and fell into the water and drowned because it didn’t know how to swim.
Moral: People tend to think of themselves based on the judgment of others. We should focus on and try to be the best at what we are capable of doing. The way to realize our true potential is to become self-aware. Albert Einstein once said, “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.