'elf Express Extra

Yesterday afternoon my daughter returned from college with a smiling face and headed straight to her room without even kissing me, something she never fails to do normally.

What made her so excited? When she did not come out of her room even after an hour, I approached her room stealthily. I looked through the open door.

She had freed her small rabbit from its cage where it dined on a leaf of lettuce and a trough of water. She had also made a small iron wagon to which she attached the rabbit. Her rabbit had the air of an old beast of burden.

"That's curious," I told myself, "my daughter seems to be having no consideration for the companion with long ears." Her rabbit, usually treated to love and kisses, was now being treated with scientific detachment.

She regularly filled up the wagon with sand and pebbles and pinched Bunny so that it reacted. Then she noted the rabbits' slightest movements.

The poor rabbit could draw the cart by small successive jumps for some time but when the weight became too heavy, it would become stiff, accelerate its breathing and grit its teeth. The wagon did not move even by an inch and the pinching soon became useless.

My daughter then took a pad and a pencil and noted 400 grams. She spoke the number proudly and aloud.

I decided to intervene: "May I know what are you doing?"

Surprised but visibly glad, she explained to me that her professor of natural science had asked them to invent an experiment. She had the idea of the cart and the pebbles for evaluating how much weight her pet rabbit could pull. The pinching was a necessary part of all experiments of this type.

"And what are your conclusions?" I asked her, half amused, half-anxious for Bunny who in one corner continued to pant.

"Well, Bunny is capable of pulling up to 450 grams. After that, he gets tired and quits."

"I did not chide my daughter, since I thought it would be advisable to tell her that she had just discovered a very important law of human life.

"What a great life lesson! Your professor will surely be happy with this experiment. You can apply those results to many circumstances: your career, your education, your love life, and family relationships.

You may still find yourself in the Bunny's predicament if you force yourself to draw more weight . . . than you can handle."

In order to live happily, healthfully, and serenely, it is so important to find our limits for ourselves, rather than having them imposed on us by others. Before anyone (including yourself) puts a too-heavy burden on you, know where the boundaries are for your time, energy, and strength.

It is okay to say a polite "no" to Herculean requests. Poor bunny cannot speak for himself, but we humans have the ability to put the brakes on before our burdens become unbearable.

But all of that does not mean that that you cannot, when you want, go further and push away your "limits." Your potential is unlimited.