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was standing tied up to a small pole in the ground. A chain was keeping its feet imprisoned. Nevertheless, the pole was really tiny and hardly dug into the ground. Although the chain was big and strong, it seemed obvious to me that an animal with the strength to uproot trees could easily break free and walk away. I thought of it as a mystery. What was keeping him? Why wouldnt he run away?

When I was 5 or 6 years old I still believed in grownup wisdom. I asked my teacher, my father and my uncle, of the mystery of the Elephant. Someone explained to me that the elephant had been tamed. So I made the obvious question: "If he has been tamed, why do they have to keep him chained?" I dont remember getting a satisfactory answer. In time I forgot the mystery of the chained Elephant to the pole and remembered it only when in the company of people who have had once held the same question on the subject.

Few years ago I discovered that someone was wise enough to find the answer. The Elephant of the circus is not running away, because he is used to that very same pole from a very young age.

I closed my eyes and I imagined the newly born defenseless Elephant tied to the pole. I am sure that back then the little Elephant pushed and pulled and sweated trying to get free. But, in spite of all his efforts, he didnt succeed because the pole was too strong for him. I imagined him sleeping exhausted and next day trying again, and the day after the same. . .

. . . Until one day, an awful day in his history, the animal admitted to his weakness and submitted to his destiny. This enormous and powerful elephant we can see in the circus is not running away because the poor animal thinks he cant. The memory of the weakness he felt shortly after his