I recently decided to start watching the show Lost again
and last night I remembered why. This was an episode about Charlie’s addiction
and at one point he is asking Locke for help. Locke asks Charlie to come over
to a tree to look at something and he shows him a moth’s cocoon. He goes on to
tell Charlie that the moth is trapped inside and will struggle tirelessly
through this stage of his life to make his way to the top of the cocoon where
there is a small hole. Once the moth gets there, through much pain and effort,
he will make the hole big enough to emerge through and fly off. He shows
Charlie his knife and explains that he could easily cut through the cocoon and
free the moth now but he knows that the moth would not survive. “You see, he
says, it’s only through the pain and struggle that the moth will become strong
enough to survive through the next stage of life”. We all struggle but it’s the struggle and
working through the pain that prepares us and makes us stronger. If you’re not
scared, you’re not challenging yourself. If you’re not feeling discomfort and
pain, you’re not growing. I hope I can always remember this even at times when it’s
not so easy to remember.
