Guest guest Posted July 2, 2002 Report Share Posted July 2, 2002 I was reading a book the other day, and found an interesting piece of philosophy in it. It was a story that originally came from a sermon by Dr. Hersberger. It was titled " Play Ball Where the Monkey Drops It " . It was telling the tale (no idea how true the story is, but the philosophy seemed good) of how the English, over in India, decided they needed to set up golf courses. So they did, but they ran into a problem, the monkeys loved the golf balls, and were fascinated by the humans playing golf. So the monkeys would scamper onto the golf course, and grab the balls, and would drop or throw them somewhere else. The men tried desperately to get the monkeys to leave them alone including building a fence around the golf course, luring them away, and trapping them. The fences didn't keep them out, they thought the men hitting balls were better than the lures, and when one monkey was trapped, another took it's place. So finally, the men just gave up and adopted the rule, " play ball where the monkey drops it " . This meant they might be in a very good place on the green, and suddenly be put into a bad place, in the rough. Or the reverse might occur, they might be in the rough, and suddenly get placed on the green. It was, of course, maddening, it certainly wasn't fair. Then it occurred to them that it was kind of like life. Life isn't always fair. Sometimes when you're sailing along in life, you suddenly get dumped in a bad spot, and sometimes when you're not doing so well, a bit of brightness comes along. The general idea is to accept life and " play ball where the monkey drops it " . Sometimes life isn't fair, but like the men playing golf, you are probably better off accepting the bumps and keep playing along. Sooner or later, you'll get a bit of good where you didn't expect it. I thought this was a pretty good story. Sometimes I do sit and complain about where the " monkey " dropped my ball, but I would probably be better off to accept the new spot my " ball " is in, and go on from there. That's not to say that complaints are never valid, but I'm going to try to spend more of my life repeating to myself " play ball where the monkey dropped it " and less time (hopefully) complaining. Darcy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 2, 2002 Report Share Posted July 2, 2002 Darcy, You have the most wonderful analogies. I loved this play ball where the monkey dropped it. And you had a great analogy of relationships the other day with the levels of water in the tanks. I think I need to start reading some of these books you've been reading.... Take care, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 2, 2002 Report Share Posted July 2, 2002 Darcy, You have the most wonderful analogies. I loved this play ball where the monkey dropped it. And you had a great analogy of relationships the other day with the levels of water in the tanks. I think I need to start reading some of these books you've been reading.... Take care, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 2, 2002 Report Share Posted July 2, 2002 Darcy, You have the most wonderful analogies. I loved this play ball where the monkey dropped it. And you had a great analogy of relationships the other day with the levels of water in the tanks. I think I need to start reading some of these books you've been reading.... Take care, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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