When Elephants Fight, The Grass Suffers

When Elephants Fight, The Grass Suffers

When Elephants Fight, The Grass Suffers.  WHAT a proverb indeed and Mr Google defines this as 'WHEN POWERFUL FORCES GO TO WAR, IT'S THEIR PEOPLE WHO ARE HURT.  THOSE WO NEVER ASKED FOR THE CONFLICT IN THE FIRST PLACE ARE CAUGHT, AND KILLED, IN THE CROSSFIRE'.  Well said and instantly, I can relate countless life scenarios.  At home.  At work.  In business.  In local and geo-politics.  Or literally speaking, even out there in the wilderness, when animals end up in a fight like this💥💥💥

Allow me to share this poster I grabbed from Dr Cai Yiming, one of Singapore's most respected experts in Psychiatry and Emeritus Consultant at Singapore's Child Guidance Clinic.  Honestly, my eyeballs almost dropped when I stumbled across Dr Yiming's book cover because this picture speaks a zillion words.  Everyone can relate to this, across cultures, across generations, across economic strata.  WHEN couples fight [and worse, end up in a standoff, and worst, end up in that scary acrimonious fight], guess WHO else gets 'caught' in the midst of crossfires.  More often, the casualty are the 'innocent bystanders'.  Pitiful indeed😶😶😶

Let's take a sneak preview of those corporate wars happening [sometimes outside their board rooms].  Imagine those cage fights between Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg.  Who says that their rivalry is just a skirmish?  God knows, when the dust settles, what will be the ramifications NOT just to their respective business agenda but to us consumers❕❕❕

And as much as we DON'T expect those business rivalries to show any signs of slowing down and simmer down anytime now, we WON'T spend time in the business space.  Instead, let's zoom in down to our domestic situations.  True, couples argue and many times, those tiffs lead to a full-blown quarrel and when emotions 'skyrocket', WHAT else to expect than that 'full blown' war [maybe at a less magnitude [OF COURSE] than the raging war between Israel and the Hamas factions in Palestine.  Picture out a very messy scenario WHEN expletives are hurled back and forth, and WHEN it DOESN'T seem to be enough, objects are literally flying [I had an ex-colleague who confided that twice he had to replace his theater-wide LCD]❎❎❎

Now, let's make things murkier.  WHAT IF the protagonists are physically 10,000 miles apart and yet a quarrel starts.  Imagine all-out conflagrations happening virtually.  And when children get squeezed amidst the crossfires, God knows what happens next.  So, WHEN ELEPHANTS FIGHT, THE GRASS SUFFERS😕😕😕