The Deer and the Tortoise

I want to tell you a story of a Deer and a Tortoise.
The story of the race between deer and the Tortoise is much older than the familiar story of the rabbit and the Tortoise.
This story was written by a well known Chinese philosopher named Zhuang Tze.
Zhuang Tze lived during 400s BC, almost 2500 years ago. He wrote a book, only one book in his life time . There are 37 chapters in this book. And the story of the Deer and the Tortoise is from one of the chapters.
Once upon a time, the Deer and the Tortoise decided to have a race .
At the starting point the Deer was cocky.
“ I am the fastest animal on land. No way you are going to win” said the Deer.
So “ Bang” the race started.
The deer shot forward. After a short while, the deer stop. The deer said to himself “ I am the sure winner , why should I run?” . So he stopped running and take a slow walk. Then he heard a low voice “ Hei! be sportsman, do your best. You cannot stop like this. I am ahead of you.” Sure enough, as the deer looked up , he saw the Tortoise is actually in front of him.
So quickly the deer gave chase. With his long legs and fast speed, he soon over took the Tortoise.
As he was running, he looked forward, and he looked backwards. The Tortoise was no way to be seen. He thought he has out ran the Tortoise this time. So he stopped again. He found himself standing on top of a patch of green grass. As he was about to lower his head to take a bite at some delicious young grass shoot, to his horror, he heard the familiar voice of the Tortoise again. “Run, run, don’t stop. If you stop a gain you will be the loser”. Sure enough, he saw the tortoise was there again, several meters ahead of him.
So he picked up his heels again and ran as fast as he could. He said aloud to himself, “I cannot afford to lose to a slow crawling Tortoise!”
Finally the Deer came to about a few meters from the finishing line, the Deer has a strange feeling. “Hei, it is not possible for the tortoise to run so fast. I am a Deer. He is only the slow Tortoise!” sid the Deer.
He looked back. The tortoise was not there. “Sure,” he said to himself. “The Tortoise cannot be running so fast”.
As he was ready to take the last few steps towards tDe finishing line, heheard the voice of the Tortoise again ! This time, the voice was in front of him.
The deer looked up . To his horror, he saw the Tortoise just crossed the finishing line.
The deer was devastated. He conceded defeat and spent the rest of his life doing nothing but blaming himself for losing the race.
How did the tortoise won the race.
The Tortoise knew he never had a chance. So the night before the race he summon his entire family. He placed them along the entire route including one just at the finishing line. All Tortoise looked alike right. So the Tortoise is guaranteed a win even before the race.
Zhuang Tze, the man who wrote this story was a man who looked at life in a humorous manner. Yet his writing and thoughts have profound effect on Chinese philosophy of life till today.
So what is the moral of the story?
We can quickly list down what we learned from this story.
First from the part of the deer:

• If you want to succeed I anything, do not take success lightly. Even when success seem so easy, do not take it as something that is guaranteed until you have crossed the finishing line.
• To succeed , one must drive towards the set goal with tenacity. If the Deer has ran the race and finished it in one breath, he could have earned himself a chance to declare the race a fraud and give himself an opportunity to ask for a repeat race
• There is no need to sink into self pity even in case of a failure. President Lincoln last 37 elections before winning one to become the president of the United States.

Now from the part of the Tortoise. The Tortoise succeeded because:

• He strategize and plan his race with the stronger Deer.
• He worked with a team.
• He worked with the end in mind.

Do you see parallel examples in Toastmasters? Toastmasters Is teaching us exactly the same thing , right?

• Don’t give up easily
• work with the end in mind
• Plan your work
• Work your plan
• Work with the team etc.

It is all there! What Toastmasters were trying to tell u is also written in an ancient book 2500 years a go !
Do you think the Tortoise has cheated? The tortoise sure did.
So after 85 years developing methodology to promote and improving public speaking, Toastmasters also places great emphasis on the Core values. One of the core values of Toastmasters is "integrity". Never cheat to succeed.