First one elder reached out and felt its flapping ear. "An elephant is soft but rough and flexible, like a leather fan." Another grasped its back leg. "An elephant is a rough, hairy pillar." An old woman took hold of a tusk and gasped, "An elephant is a cool, smooth staff." A young girls seized the tail and declared, "An elephant is a fringed rope." A boy took hold of the trunk and announced, "An elephant is a water pipe." Soon others were stroking its sides which were furrowed like a dry plowed field, and others determined that its head was an overturned washing tub attached to the water pipe.
This bit in the short story ties into our metaphoric journal entry in my eyes. With every part of the "elephant" that was touched, was a different experience for the villagers. One may experience a similar or even exact situation in life, such as the death of a mother, but one does not experience/express hiss emotions or feelings the same as the next.