A man found a cocoon of an emperor moth. He took it home so that he could watch the moth come out of the cocoon. On that day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the moth for several hours as the moth struggled to force the body through that little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther. It just seemed to be stuck. Then the man, in his kindness, decided to help the moth, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The moth then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the moth because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the little moth spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the moth to get through the tiny opening, was the way of forcing fluid from the body of the moth into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon. Freedom and flight would only come after the struggle. By depriving the moth of a struggle, he deprived the moth of health.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we were to go through our life without any obstacles, we would be crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. Give every opportunity a chance, leave no room for regrets.

Exceptional Children "Struggle" with human growth as all children do.   As a parent, the above beautiful explanation of this cycle, reminds me that I must trust this painful process & developmental growth;

.... leave it to nature, my children and GOD.

As a mother, it has been and will continue to be the most difficult challenge I have encountered in my lifetime; to watch my children experience not only the pain of discrimination, prejudice and the battle to overcome or compensate for their disAbilities, but to watch them experience this process of NORMAL human growth. At times, I want so much to be able to remove this pain.... I now know this is my personal "struggle" and privilege as well. Providing support, LOVE, trust, guidance and FAITH are what I can do to insure my children find themselves and realize their gifts in this confusing world; and that WE grow together!

.....AK Macleod; Mom and Proud TQ™ Coach of Pat, Jeff (Mascot) & Kate

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