Once upon a time there was a king who lived in the jungle.  The king wanted to climb a tree to get some food.  He looked up in the tree and saw a monkey.  He asked the monkey if he could show him how to climb the tree so that he could get some fruit.

The monkey looked at the king and said, “you cannot climb this tree, for you are a human, and I am a monkey.”

The king said, “why not?”

The monkey said, “because you do not have a tail, nor can you use your hands and feet interchangeably like we monkeys can.”

The king said, “why don’t I have a tail, and am not able to use my hands and feet interchangeably like a monkey?”

The monkey said, “because you have no reason to climb the trees, for you simply cut them down and pluck the fruit from the ground.”

The king said, “well that would work, but then there will be no more fruit, since the tree will be dead.”

The monkey said, “that is true, but unlike the monkey, the human doesn’t think for future generations.  We monkeys know that our very own future lies in the hands of our descendants for someday we will come back in another lifetime, and climb this same tree to get the fruit.  You humans have not yet figured that out.”

Sometime later, a boy who lived in the jungle approached a different tree than that of the king, for much of the jungle had been cut down.  He looks up into the tree where he sees the same monkey.   The boy asks the monkey if he will show him how to climb the tree so that he may get some fruit.  The monkey, tells him the same thing he told the king, “that you cannot climb trees because you are a human and I am a monkey.”

The boy asks, “why can’t humans climb a tree?”

The monkey says, “because you do not have a tail and cannot use your hands and feet interchangeably like us monkeys can.”

He then told the boy that you do not need to climb the tree in the first place, because humans just cut down the tree and pluck the fruit from the ground.

The boy said, “but if we do that there will be no more fruit from the tree that we cut down.”

The monkey said, “exactly, that is why you do not need to know how to climb a tree so long as there are plenty of trees to cut down.”

The boy said, “I don’t want to cut down any trees, even if there are plenty, because it takes much longer to grow a tree than it does to cut one down, we will eventually run out.”

Later that week, the monkey is high up in the tree eating the fruit and enjoying the beautiful view, when he hears a noise below him.  He peered over the edge of the tree and looked down.  There right below him climbing the tree was the little boy.  He then picked a fruit and climbed up to the monkey and sat with him to enjoy the beautiful view.

The monkey asked the boy, “how did you climb the tree, for you are a human and you do not have a tail, and you cannot use your hands and feet interchangeably?  You cannot climb a tree.”

The boy said, “I may not have a tail, but I can make a tail from this vine, and I cannot use my hands and feet like a monkey, but I can put my hands around this vine and wrap it around the tree.  When I lean back, I can move my feet up the tree and hold myself up so that I can move the vine and my hands up the tree, using them interchangeably with this vine, like you use your tail.  You see, talking to you gave me the idea on how I can climb the tree with the talents and skills that I currently possess.  Thanks for telling me how to get up the tree so that I may enjoy the tasty fruit and the beautiful view.”

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Summary

The boy focused on what he wanted, and looked to the monkey not for reasons why he could not climb the tree, but rather for ways to climb the tree.  The boy only saw ideas and ways to accomplish the thing that he wanted.  He knew there were alternative ways to get the fruit, but also knew that those were short sided ways, and did not feel like his truth.  He attracted the ability to climb the tree because he wanted it so bad.  He knew that he could do it, and knew that there was a way. Talking to the monkey showed him the way.  The monkey did what the boy asked – he showed/told him how to climb the tree.  The monkey told the king the same things, but the king did not believe that he could do it, and did not mind taking the short cuts to get the fruit that he desired, even though he would destroy the forest in the process.  There was plenty of forest for the king’s lifetime, as well as the boy’s lifetime, but the boy knew there would not be enough forest for everyone, so he did not consider that solution.  The boy , despite his age, had the wisdom and the beliefs and desires to accomplish the thing that he wanted to accomplish, and looked to the monkey for an example of how to climb the tree, rather than for excuses on why he would never be able to climb the tree.  Sometimes, we need to look to our youth for the answers that we are too blind with experience and logic, to see.

Written March 20, 2007