It's no monkey business

Once there was a mother monkey who has a philosophic turn of mind. This would make her forgetful and often inattentive to her baby whose name was Charles. Like many modern mothers she just did not take enough care, distracted as she was by her thoughts. Nevertheless, she went through the routine as her mother had done before herm but not in the same spirit. She just hitched him on her back and absently scaled the palms. So there it was. And as she rummaged amongst the mode midding nuts, revolving matters in her mind, baby just slipped off, with all his young life before him too.

On the way down, Charles, who also tended to brood, called up, Mother, why are we here?"
"We are here," she observed, "to hang on".

The Way

“Moved by their selfish desires,
people seek after fame and glory.
But when they have acquired it,
they are stricken in years.
If you hanker after worldly fame
and practice not The Way,
Your labours are wrongly applied
and your energy is wasted.
It is like burning unto an incense stick.
However much its pleasing odour be admired,
the fire that consumes
is steadily burning up the stick.”
-The Dhammapada