I wanted to open a bottle of Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa (meant for soothing throat) after taking out from the fridge.

I tried opening the bottle by my sheer force, used my shirt to turn the cap. I kept wanting to open it by my brutal force. All don’t seem to work until …

I used a ‘trick’ which is to use rubber band to wrap around the bottle cap. When I first turn them with this new way, it does not work. After 10 seconds, it works perfectly!

Yeah, I could now savour the real sweet syrup! After exhausting my hand muscle.

This incident strongly reminded me of this fable – The North Wind and The Sun

The North Wind boasted of great strength. The Sun argued that there was great power in gentleness.

“We shall have a contest,” said the Sun.

Far below, a man traveled a winding road. He was wearing a warm winter coat.

“As a test of strength,” said the Sun, “Let us see which of us can take the coat off of that man.”

“It will be quite simple for me to force him to remove his coat,” bragged the Wind.

The Wind blew so hard, the birds clung to the trees. The world was filled with dust and leaves. But the harder the wind blew down the road, the tighter the shivering man clung to his coat.

Then, the Sun came out from behind a cloud. Sun warmed the air and the frosty ground. The man on the road unbuttoned his coat.

The sun grew slowly brighter and brighter.

Soon the man felt so hot, he took off his coat and sat down in a shady spot.

“How did you do that?” said the Wind.

“It was easy,” said the Sun, “I lit the day. Through gentleness I got my way.”

Moral of the story : Persuasion works better than force.

For my case, trick combined with force works brilliantly.