Closing Thoughts for the Week

Well, it’s the end of the week. I realize I usually don’t write things more than once in a GREAT while, but I’m feeling creative or something and felt compelled to write some more…so, here goes.

There is an ancient Chinese parable that I was told recently that goes something like this (if you know the actual story, I’m going from memory and adding stuff as I see fit) :

Two Buddhist monks were walking along after a heavy rain when they happened upon a river that was moving quite rapidly. On the riverbank was a woman on her way to a party dressed in her best clothes.

“Would one of you please carry me across the river so that I don’t get my clothes dirty or wet?” she asked.

The younger of the two monks looked away as if to ignore her as it was one of the rules of their sect that they could neither talk to nor touch a woman. The older, and wiser, of the two monks went over to her, picked her up and carried her across the river. After putting her back on the ground, the two monks went on their way. The younger monk was flabbergasted and flustered. He couldn’t believe what had just happened.

As the day drew near an end some time later, the younger monk could take it no longer and said, “I can’t believe that you did that. You took a solemn oath that you wouldn’t touch a woman when you became a monk and yet you carried that woman across the river.”

“Yes, I did carry the woman, but I stopped carrying her at the riverbank. You, on the other hand, haven’t put her down yet,” he replied.

I really enjoy this story. It’s a simple story, but the message that it carries is very important, and one that we all should learn: There is no point in carrying a burden after the burden has been lifted from you.