Its Not the Size of the Dog in The Fight…
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight but it’s the size of the fight in the dog that counts. It’s all that counts.
This is an old proverb that has been around for centuries. It is used to express the idea that one’s size or power does not necessarily make one the victor in a fight, suggesting that even the small and weak can be successful in a fight if they are determined and have courage. The phrase is often used to encourage people to not be afraid to stand up to obstacles or challenges that may seem larger than themselves.
Let me share one of the real stories from India where a man defied all odds and won against the life situation just on sheer willpower. This is a true story. It was India in the 1950s. Landless laborers lived amid rocky terrain in the remote Atri block of Gaya, Bihar, in northern India. A 300-foot tall mountain loomed between them and all the basic facilities that they had always longed for. Dashrath Manjhi, one of the laborers tilled fields for a landlord on the other side of the mountain. At noon, his wife Phaguni would bring his lunch. As they had no road, the trek took hours over the mountain.
One day as the harsh sun beat down, Phaguni tripped on a loose rock and was badly injured. Her water pot shattered. She slid down several feet. Hours past noon, Dashrath came to know that his wife fell down and got injured badly. He ran and found her wife in a pool of blood. He picked her up and tried to reach the hospital but due to the hilly area, he was not able to reach on time to the hospital and lost her wife on the way.
It was 1959 when his wife died because of falling from a mountain and due to the same mountain blocking easy access to a nearby hospital in time, he decided to carve a 110-meter-long (360 ft), and 9.1 meter-wide (30 ft) wide path and 7.7 meter-deep (25 ft) path through a ridge of hills using only a hammer and a chisel. After 22 years of work, Dashrath shortened travel between the Atri and Wazirganj blocks of the Gaya district from 55 km to 15 km. He did it all alone.
Dashrath Manjhi was an ordinary man with limited physical power, and limited resources, and all odds were stacked against him. But, it’s the internal will, that feeble little voice — that said “I will break you” in 1959 that started the fight and the rest is history.
Hope you liked the story. Do share your thoughts/stories of courage in the comments section. Please share with others if you feel this will add value to them.
Have a great day !!
