Last week, while listening to one of my favorite podcasts, I heard a story about draft horses. Now, I am not much of a horse person, but even I remember the power and majesty of those Clydesdale draft horses I’ve seen at the county fair! These horses are incredibly huge, powerful and beautiful! So…my interest was piqued.
A draft horse can weigh up to a ton and has the ability to haul tremendous loads-a single draft horse can haul up to 8,000 pounds. With two horses, you would think they could then haul 16,000 pounds, right? But no! Incredibly when two horses are paired together, they can haul up to 24,000 pounds…that’s two horses hauling three times the weight one can tow alone! And it gets better: when two draft horses are trained to pull together, alongside each other, their pulling capacity increases to 32,000 pounds—four times the weight either could have moved alone!
There’s a valuable lesson to be learned from these horses! Life can be hard, full of twists and turns and ongoing challenges and while some of us are strong, we were never meant to face it all alone. Just like the draft horses, we will always be stronger when we work together. And if we take the time to learn to “pull together, alongside each other,” who knows what we can achieve? We too may accomplish four times as much.
Working together, helping, and learning from each other, we will always be stronger than we are alone. Let’s remember the gift of friendships, mentors, and families and move forward together!