Once upon a time, in a place far away, elephants were happy animals. They spent their time each day eating, chatting with each other, and just doing what elephants do, waving their ears and trunks. This ancient elephant parable is about how three female elephants felt the earth move under their feet. While they are large animals, they don’t like to feel the jittery earth creating seismic vibrations due to earthquakes.

When the earth rumbled, the three female elephants formed a circle around two younger calves to protect them from some pending foreboding situation. The females face outward while protecting the young elephants. This phenomenon is called an alert circle. These three matriarchal elephants protected the younger and more vulnerable elephants. The females had watched an elephant version of the movie Cast Away. They didn’t want to cast away other elephants.

While this is a fascinating animal behavior, what have we learned about life from the parable about elephants? The first thing that I think is critical learning is that only females form alert circles. Macho male elephants don’t protect their most vulnerable.

If you move from the animal to the human world, males aren’t driven to assist those who need help. Many macho men diss those who protect the less fortunate. Those macho men retaliate against rather than care for those in danger.

Another takeaway from the parable about the elephants is that life is about the we, not the me. So, here is an assignment for you. Jot down five names of people whom you admire the most. Go over your list. Are they into themselves, or are they into working together? Your test results indicate whether you are into the me or the we as you journey down the yellow brick road of life. Choose wisely.