# The pest man who fell off the roof

- Teacher: Ajahn Brahm
- Type: Story
- URL: https://beingmindfulstories.com/stories/brahm-pest-exterminator-fell-off-the-roof
- Themes: irony, accident, work, guilt
- Life situations: workplace injury, sales

## Synopsis (editorial summary)

A pest exterminator keeps pitching his services; later falls from a roof cleaning gutters, hits his head and becomes mentally unstable — guilt/accident framing in the guilt talk.

## The story, as told by Ajahn Brahm (verbatim captions)

do you need any pests exterminated he was a pest exterminator you know looking for business so you know this guy you know he would say it's actually answered the door he said no no we're Buddhist we don't exterminate pests say why not and so they had this argument argument but whole discussion of about an hour on why Buddhists don't exterminate pests it's bad for his business but he was actually quite intrigued so he started coming every Friday and soon became a Buddhist it's amazing amazing the story why people become Buddhists but anyway that's why he came and he would have all these uh you know great discussions you know he was Irish migrant to Australia and he got to give it to him he had a really really good brain and he would he would not just accept things he would talk and discuss and oh he really loved discussing the deepest implications of this Buddhist philosophy and it's very taken by it unfortunately what happened one day he was just working on his roof cleaning the gutters or something he fell off and he hit his head

## Teaching point

The pitcher of safety can still fall off his own roof.

## Reflection (in the spirit of Ajahn Brahm's talk)

A sharp, curious temple regular fell from his roof and suffered a brain injury that changed him. Once he raged at Ajahn Brahm with a walking stick, always deliberately missing. It was frustration at losing what he'd taken for granted. Look beneath anger to the hurt. Respond with patience and stay.

## Source

- [On Guilt | Ajahn Brahm | 6 Nov 2015](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONWPCsmSC5o) (Buddhist Society of Western Australia) — watch from 25:51 to 27:13: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONWPCsmSC5o&t=1551s