Gazelles and Lions

Gazelle & Lion

Currently, I am reading "The World is Flat" by Thomas L. Friedman. This is a non-fiction book where the author explains global economy, out-sourcing, off-shoring etc., in a very simple way so that even guys like me who have no knowledge in economics can understand.

In one of the chapters (Ten things which flattened the world), the author talks about offshoring. He mentions an old African saying/song in the text:

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.
It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.
Every morning a lion wakes up.
It knows that it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.
It doesn't matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle.
When the sun comes up, you better start running.

This is so true!. Gone are the days where one can be content with the knowledge he/she has accumulated till that point. Right now, the world is in such a state that, if I think I am not meant to do some things as part of my job, there is another guy (better qualified than me, who knows?) who is willing to take it up. Whether global economy has flattened the playing field or not, it has become an ideal ego-buster.

Just wanted to share this with all of you this new week.

Update: It just so happened that I used a sketch of a gazelle and a real photo of a lion for this post. Now when I look at them, it is as if the lion is chasing an imaginary gazelle and the paper gazelle is running from a real lion!. But hopefully that should not dilute the fact!.