I was inspired by one of @cryptoctopus's posts Last Week, and it got me reflecting on an old Chinese folktale I had heard.

The Young Monk

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A young boy, leaves his rural village to travel, hoping to become a monk at the Shaolin Temple. After some time, he arrives at the gates, only to be turned away. The boy wasn't disheartened, for he understood that his patience and perseverance must be being tested.

The boy waited, first days, with nothing but rejection and expulsion, soon days turned to a week, and before long, the boy was interviewed by a senior monk and was accepted as a junior. The boy was elated, and when word reached his home village, they were excited as well.

The Shaolin monks were held in high esteem for their martial arts prowess, and no one from nearby villages had so far been accepted to the fold, but here sat this boy.

The first night, he was so excited, thinking about the flashy swordplay and acrobatics he would be able to execute with a flawless flourish that proved his skill, and he couldn't wait for his first lessons. Sooner than he anticipated, morning came and instruction begain.

"Boy, I want you to take this wooden pail down the mountainside to the stream, and fill it with water. Bring it back to me"

Excitedly, the lad runs down the mountain to fill the bucket, but finds the journey back up to be much more of a struggle than he had thought. By the time He made it back to the teacher, much of the water had been spilled, yet he eagerly handed the fruits of his labor to his teacher.

"This pail is not filled," The chief instructor exclaims while emptying the bucket to the ground "Return with it full."

Slumping down the mountain, the boy went once again, returning to the stream that not long ago he had departed from. Upon filling his bucket, much more deliberately and purposefully, the boy climbed again to the temple, and managed to have the most of the water in the bucket.

"Good," the teacher said setting the bucket on the ground before his pupil "With your palm, I want you to slap the surface of the water, and I want you to keep doing this until there is no more water left in the bucket to slap."

Again, the junior monk dutifully turns to his new task. All the while wondering WHY he is being told to slap water. "Maybe it is a punishment..." he thought to himself, slapping the surface of the water with his red and throbbing palm. "Is it because I spilled too much?". Soon enough, there was no more water left in the bucket.

Seeking out his teacher again, the boy inquires "What would you have me do, teacher?"

"Go fetch another bucket, and do it again." echoed the teacher, in the pit of the pupil's dismay.

Dutifully again the boy grabbed his bucket, and repeated the task all day, until there was no light to see. To his horror, he was given the same task again, day after day, week after week. "Why am I being told to do this?!" *SLAP * * SLAP * "Surely I have upset the teacher!" * SLAP * * SLAP * "These monks are making a fool out of me!" * SLAP * * SLAP *.

Month after month, the lad carried his bucket full of water, then slapped it empty, like a Sisyphean punishment, day after day, until finally, the holidays came, and the most senior monk called the boy to his quarters.

"You've been here a year, I wish for you to take a break." Begins the head of the temple "Visit your family in your home village. I have notified them of your coming, and I will expect you back here in two weeks time to resume training." Receiving word of the return of the locally famous monk, the village decided to hold a celebration in his honor, hanging a banner, and roping off a section of the square for the celebration.

Upon arriving at the party, greeted by excited friends and family, the boy's pride of returning as a Shaolin monk quickly faded as he came to understand the crowds expectations. They requested a demonstration in the roped of square. Humbly the young monk tried to defer the situation, insisting he would rather not, but the crowd grow insistent and began to clamor and chant!

The humiliation grew inside of him, "Surely, this is the fool they wished to make of me!" he thought, growing more and more ashamed of his inadequacy "This is why they wasted a whole year, and here, I have NOTHING to show for it!" this whole year he had learned no martial arts, and he was about to lose face in front of everyone he knew and loved.

The village dragged him, overwhelmed, to the center of the roped off section, screaming, calling, begging for some show of his new found mastery. Tears welled in his eyes, for shame, for being taken advantage of, for a wasted year. "Show us!", "Come On!", "You gotta have something to show off!" the chants and cries grew louder, piercing his most inner being, until finally, the young monk had enough frustration;

"LEAVE ME ALONE, I LEARNED NOTHING!!!" Screamed the monk, slamming his hand into the massive stone table.

The crowd grew quiet and stared in amazement. The young monk, upon slamming the table with his palms, had broken the thick stone clear in half.

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I hope that this story has found you in a time you needed it, or if not today, that it will serve you well in the future. I've been slapping water for years now, and have managed to achieve some of my goals, and I am willing to wager, if you keep slapping water too, you can one day break the boulder.

If you have anything to share in the comments, maybe a story, inspirational or not, I'd love to hear it.

Until next time,
@tronthetechie