Put Him Down, Already, Dammit.

Lately, I have been spending a lot of time chanting, “Put him down.” inside my head.

The phrase is part of a story that I read, once, and cannot find again. The gist of it is as follows.

…

Two monks are walking down a road when they discover a bridge has been washed away by heavy rains. Standing at the edge of the river is a woman who is afraid to get her fancy clothing wet and who demands that one of the monks carry her across the water, keeping her dry, since they’re going to cross anyway.

The older monk allows the woman to climb on his back and proceeds to cross the river. As he does so, he accidentally splashes some water – the woman begins to berate him for his carelessness.

On reaching the other side, rather than thanking the monk for his assistance, the woman berates him further and angrily storms away. The monk simply smiles and bows his head.

The monks continue walking for some time. After a long period of silence, the younger monk says, “I do not understand. That woman was rude, but you carried her across anyway. Then she didn’t say thank you, but you smiled at her anyway!”

The older monk nodded and said, “I put that woman down a long time ago; why are you still carrying her?”

..

I am currently not a fan of 12 year olds. I must put him down, however, and not carry him all day.