A man, who regularly attended family meetings suddenly without any notice stopped participating.
After a few weeks, one very cold night the leader of that group decided to visit him.
He found the man at home, alone, sitting in front of a fireplace where a bright fire burned.
The man welcomed the leader. There was a great silence.
The two men only watched the dancing flames around the logs that crackled in the fireplace.
After a few minutes the leader, without saying a word, examined the woods that formed the fire and selected one of them, glowing most brightly of all, removing it to the side with a pair of tongs. Then he sat down again.
The host was paying attention to everything, fascinated. Before long, the lone member flame subsided, until there was only a momentary glow & the fire soon went out.
In a short time what was previously bright light and heat had become nothing more than a black & dead piece of wood.
Very few words had been spoken since the greeting.
Before preparing to leave, the leader with the tongs picked up the useless piece of wood & placed it again in the middle of the fire. Immediately, the member piece of wood was rekindled, fueled by the light & heat of the burning coals around him.
When the leader reached the door to leave, the host said: Thank you for your visit and for your beautiful lesson. I'll return to the group soon.
Why is a group important? Very simple:
Because each member that withdraws takes fire & heat from the rest.
We shall always try to cooperate & learn to function in the group & take our time to be used to in group because we can succeed in group