Mindset story: Consequences of the battle between the snake and a saw

There was once a very successful and wise carpenter. Everyone in the village turned to him for advice, not just about building and repairing houses but also about their own lives and relationships. You see, the carpenter had a tough life. As a child, he was left alone to care for himself and his younger brother and sister. From a very young age, he had to make difficult choices without guidance or support, and he learned about the consequences of those actions the hard way. Each mistake, each hardship, left a mark on him. In his younger years, he was filled with anger and frustration, often feeling that the world was unfair. He held grudges, he fought battles that didn’t need to be fought, and for a long time, he thought his anger gave him strength. But over time, he realized that holding onto resentment and hate only hurt him more. Each grudge he held was like carrying a heavy stone on his back, it weighed him down, while the people he was angry with moved on, unaffected. And so, he made a choice. Instead of focusing on the unfairness of life, he would focus on finding solutions. He learned to control his emotions, to think before he acted, and to accept that not everything needed a reaction. This shift in mindset changed his life.

Because of his wisdom and ability to turn challenges into lessons, people sought his advice, and he became respected by everyone. He taught them not just how to build strong homes, but also how to build strong hearts and minds. One night, as the village slept, a hungry snake slithered into the carpenter’s workshop, searching for food. The carpenter, despite his wisdom, was a rather untidy man and had left several of his tools lying on the floor. Among them was a saw. As the snake moved around the shop, it accidentally slithered over the sharp edge of the saw, giving itself a small cut. The snake recoiled in pain and, not understanding what had happened, assumed the saw was attacking it. In a burst of fury, the snake struck back, sinking its fangs deep into the wooden handle of the saw. But instead of hurting the saw, the attack only caused the snake’s mouth to bleed. This made the snake even angrier. Believing it needed to fight harder, the snake coiled its entire body around the saw and began to squeeze with all its might, trying to crush the “enemy” that had hurt it. But the more it squeezed, the more its own body was wounded. The saw, being an inanimate object, felt nothing. It didn’t fight back. It didn’t care. And yet, the snake continued its battle, unaware that it was destroying itself.

By morning, the fight was over. The snake lay lifeless, cut apart by its own actions, while the saw remained, unaffected and unmoved. When the carpenter entered his workshop the next morning, he was surprised to find the dead snake and the blood-stained saw. He stood in silence, thinking about what had happened. Then, he murmured to himself, “This could have been me, if I hadn’t learned to let go of anger.” The carpenter took a deep breath and looked around his shop. He decided to clean up his workspace, making it a place of order, just as he had done with his heart and mind years ago. From that day on, whenever someone came to him, consumed by anger or resentment, he would tell them the story of the snake and the saw. He would remind them that sometimes, the best way to win a battle is to simply walk away.