One day a man saw a butterfly shuddering on the sidewalk. It was locked in a seemingly hopeless struggle to free itself from its now useless cocoon.

Feeling pity, the man took a pocket knife and carefully cut away the cocoon and set the butterfly free. To his dismay, the butterfly lay on the sidewalk, convulsed weakly for awhile, then it died.

A biologist later told the man, "That was the worst thing you could have done!" A butterfly needs that struggle to develop the muscles to live and fly away. By robbing him of the struggle you rendered him to weak to live."