How to Eat an Elephant
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." The above quote is a paraphrase of an African proverb. Most of us, through conversation, or entertainment mediums, have encountered the phrase "Let's address the elephant in the room." in some form or variation. Elephants are the largest living land animals on the Earth. The largest, African Bush Elephant, are 11 feet tall and weight 13,000 pounds. They are massive. My mind goes first to the physical space this enormous animal would fill. Then to the unpleasant smell of an animals that large being in the same room as myself. How could anyone ignore that? But that is exactly what people do with the metaphorical elephant, their problems. The image of an elephant in the room is used to speak of some issue or problem that is effecting a person or a group of people, but not being talked about. As humans we are often too overwhelmed or busy to take time to really ...