Being Mindful Stories

Joke · Ajahn Brahm

The carrot who'll be a vegetable

As told by Ajahn Brahm in No-Self Esteem | by Ajahn Brahm

1 min read

Content note: disability humour (mild)

The story — as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

that was the story of the two carrots. You remember this [laughs]. This is a golden oldie. So once there were these two carrots and they were walking down the road in St George's Terrace, which is one of the main streets here in Perth. And as they were walking down talking to each other, minding their own business, one of these drunk drivers lost control of the car, the car went up on the pavement and hit one of the carrots. And the carrot was badly injured. The other carrot rang zero zero zero. The ambulance came, straight in the back with his friend, the other unhurt carrot with him, straight to Royal Perth Hospital, straight to the emergency room, straight to triage. They realised this carrot was badly injured so they took him in to the surgery. And his friend, if ever you've been waiting in the emergency rooms, in waiting rooms rather in hospitals, it's so tense, you don't know what's going to happen. After three hours the doctor came out, the surgeon, and said, your friend Mr Carrot, I've got some good news and bad news for you. The good news is your friend, the carrot who was injured, he's going to live, he's going to survive, but the bad news, he's going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life!

▶ Watch Ajahn Brahm tell it from 26:25 (to 27:41)

A reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

Two carrots, a drunk driver, three tense hours in surgery, and a punchline Ajahn Brahm can never deliver without cracking up. He admits he can't even tell a joke properly, and doesn't mind. Fluffed lines, bad timing and small failures needn't dent your worth. Laugh along with yourself and carry on.

In brief (our summary)

Two carrots walk down St George's Terrace when a drunk driver mounts the pavement and hits one. Rushed to Royal Perth Hospital, he's in surgery for three hours. The surgeon comes out: “Good news — your friend will live. Bad news — he's going to be a vegetable for the rest of his life.”

Teaching point

(He can't tell it with a straight face — 'but I'm not going to lose my self-esteem for that.')

When this story may help

Themes

Source & credit

Told by Ajahn Brahm in No-Self Esteem | by Ajahn Brahm · 2012-07-10 · ▶ watch from 26:25 to 27:41 · Buddhist Society of Western Australia

2 other tellings of this story

Caption notes: Manual (volunteer) captions; occasional misspellings kept as is.

The narrative is Ajahn Brahm's own telling, quoted from the talk captions. The summary and reflection are Being Mindful Stories's editorial notes. Please credit the teacher and link the original talk. Markdown version

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