Instructions: Read the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant below, while reading

Instructions: Read the poem The Blind Men and the Elephant below, while reading I want you to focus your thoughts on two specific issues: 1) what does this poem mean and 2) what does it have to do with the study of leadership. After you have come to a conclusion, in no less than 150 words share your initial response in a post to the discussion.
The Blind Men and the Elephant
American poet John Godfrey Saxe (1816-1887) based the following poem
on a fable which was told in India many years ago.
It was six men of Indostan / To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the elephant / (Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation / Might satisfy his mind.
The First approached the Elephant / And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side, / At once began to bawl;
“God bless me! But this elephant / Is nothing but a wall!”
The Second, feeling of the tusk, / Cried “Ho! What have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp! / To me ‘tis mighty clear
This wonder of an Elephant / Is very like a spear!”
The Third approached the animal, / And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands, / Thus boldly up and spake;
“I see,” quoth he, “the elephant / Is very like a snake!”
The Fourth reached out his eager hand, / And felt about the knee:
“What most this wondrous beast is like / Is mighty plain,” quoth he;
“’Tis clear enough the elephant / Is very like a tree.”
The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear, / Said, “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most; / Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an elephant / Is very like a fan!”
The Sixth no sooner had begun / About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail / That fell within his scope,
“I see,” quoth he, “the elephant / Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan / Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion / Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right, / And all were in the wrong!
So, oft in theologic wars /
The disputants, I ween
Rail on in utter ignorance /
Of what each other mean,
And prate about an elephant /
Not one of them has seen!