One day in late March the little known zen monk Bob was walking wisely the streets of New York.
He stopped at the corner of Pitchfork and Bamberdoogle, pondered for a moment the ineffable nature of myriad things, the interconnectedness of it all, and came to the realisation that he was a bit peckish.
So he hastened to a nearby hot dog seller and said…
(wait for it….)
(keep waiting…)
(it’s worth it…)
(even thought you’ve heard it before…)
(everyone has…)
“Make me one with everything”
This the retailer of hot dogs did, and handed the resultant meal to the monk.
Bob, being wise in the ways of the capitalist economic system of purchasing transactions, then handed over a $10 bill in payment.
The hot dog vendor took this, put it in the drawer he kept just for this very purpose, and went on to serve the next customer.
This bemused the Monk somewhat, as it was not typical of his experience of said transactions, in order to clarify he asked,
“I handed you a $10 bill in payment for a $3.40 hotdog, surely it is more normally the nature of these things that you should now hand me $6.60 in change, give me a cheery smile. Then, and only then, go on to serve the next customer?”
The hotog vendor paused in his task, looked up and said,
(this bit you may not have heard before)
(it also is worth waiting for though)
(I far prefer it to the original shorter version 🙂
“Ah Bob my monkly friend, have you not yet learned…”
“Change must come from within”
“Oh, and don’t call me Shirley!”