Emotional Intelligence: Animal Story | By Heer, 12, Chennai

We are humans, the most superior beings on the planet, having the level of intelligence which possibly no other animals have! Most technically advanced, after all, no other species have sent probes to other planets or invented lifesaving vaccines or medicines. How our brain processes all this is still a mystery! But are we dwindling in our emotional intelligence? Let’s understand this with the help of a story.

Once upon a time there lived an elephant and his friends. They used to play a lot and lived happily in the forest. Suddenly, one day due to scorching heat, a forest fire broke out. Due to the fire, many animals lost their lives. All animals in the forest were very sad to lose their friends and family. So they kept a small meeting to discuss how they can save themselves from forest fires in the future. All of them were discussing, just then an elephant got an idea.

He said, “I will make a huge place in the forest by uprooting some trees so that whenever a fire breaks out we can go and stand there. All of us will be able to stay safe then.” All agreed with the elephant and he started uprooting the trees. He worked hard the whole day for a month and cleared the ground. Next year there was again a forest fire so all the animals came running to the empty ground to save themselves.  The elephant also came there but saw that there was just enough space to put his four legs on the ground. Somehow he managed to stand .  After a while his leg started itching so he had to lift it but when he tried to put his leg back on the ground he saw that a colony of rabbits had occupied the space. Hence the elephant decided to stand on his three legs to save the rabbits. He kept his left foot raised for three long days till the fire subsided. On the third day when the fire stopped, all the animals thanked him and left. The elephant although very weak felt very happy that he saved so many lives. The moment he tried to put his foot down he collapsed and breathed his last. All the animals of the forest remained thankful to the elephant forever for his love and compassion.

This is called emotional intelligence, something that is essential to our future. Having all the knowledge and technology in the world is of no use if we do not possess emotional intelligence to help our fellow beings.

So let us enrich our moral values and be more constructive in our actions and thoughts.