There were two of them. They were working in a circus and only getting peanuts for all of their hard labor and effort. They were a monkey and a clown.
One day the clown said “I feel like they are laughing at me, not with me. I don’t feel appreciated sometimes. I feel like a monkey in the circus.”
The monkey replied, “Well I feel like a clown. They’ve got me riding around on a tricycle, wearing a clown’s hat—amusing everybody and payin’ us peanuts and throwing bananas.”
The clown said “wait a minute, you mean to tell me you feel like a clown and I feel like a monkey?”
They agreed that they felt the same.
“But how do you feel when you see the children laughing and carrying on?” asked the clown. “Or when you see someone come in with a frown but leave smiling?”
“Oh I love that!” said the monkey. “And I especially like watching the elderly enjoying their time with the youth, too.”
They thought patiently to themselves for a minute and slowly started laughing together. They had both realized that they had the greatest occupations in the world, to make people happy and share their love and affection.
“C’mon baby let’s get back to work,” said the clown, offering a high-five.
After all, we’re all clowns and monkeys in a circus, whether we realize it or not. But we have every opportunity to spread joy and love to all.
