Sometimes we are not satisfied with the life we have because we think that the life of others is better. We see the smiles of others, we see how they walk through life and because we do not know what their true reality is, we dare to think that they are very lucky and we are not.

Sometimes by not being grateful for the things we have we end up losing everything, by daring to leave our life with the little and try to reach something that is far from belonging to us.

Because we do not know how people achieve their triumphs, envy eats away at us and we think that we are the ones who should have everything that person has to his or her credit. We think we deserve everything and more.

We are far from knowing what sacrifices this person or the people we dare to judge and at the same time envy.

It happened once that a duckling wanted to be free as the chicks were. He saw them running and eating all over the place, this duckling felt trapped because his life was in a small space where he only had a roof and food. Every day he would see how the chicks would run out of the coop and peck all over the floor in search of food, and late in the afternoon they would return to the coop and go back to their respective places with their parents.

So, the duckling thought hard about a strategy to get out of the place where he was. He talked to the other ducklings and told them that they should get out of there and have a life like the chicks, to be free to forage for their food and then return home in the evening.

He convinced some of them and they disguised themselves as chicks, so they were eating all day outside their place looking for their food and most importantly feeling free. In the afternoon they returned to their place sneaking under the fence of their place of confinement. This way no one noticed that they were out.

They stayed like this for a few days and every day more and more ducklings were convinced that this life was the best. They accompanied him, until one day it started to rain, and they huddled together wherever they could, while all the chicks ran away with the help of their wings and reached their nests and joined their mothers in the henhouse.

The disguised ducklings could not run as fast, their heavy bodies did not allow them to run fast and they could not reach the place where they were taking shelter as the water was filling the place with heavy rain. The frightened ducklings found a place to stay. At least it wasn't raining there, but little by little it was filling up with water from the sky. The little ones could not survive the cold of the night, wet and far from their parents.

Many ducklings died during the night. In the morning the first duck was alive, scared, and wet, he didn't know what to do. He looked beside him and saw his siblings, all of whom were frozen to death and those who were alive and decided to return home now without disguises and their parents happy to see some of them... still alive.

The duckling learned his lesson, that even if he sees others rejoicing with what they have at that moment he must fight for what he wants with his tools without risking his life or the lives of others in his envious plans to get ahead.

So it happens with people, they undervalue themselves for seeing that others get more and they only do and look for ways to imitate them without achieving the same original effect. Because many times what is good for some is not the same for others.

Everyone has the capabilities that they have obtained in life, their failures, their sacrifices, and their efforts are not known to us. Let us avoid envying others. Let us try to bring out our knowledge to do something original, and useful and that together with the failures and efforts allow us to bring out the best of us to be successful, capable, and original.

The photograph is from unsplash.

I am @gertu13 from Venezuela to the world.