yes.

“Can I hit you in the head with a stick?” he asked. 

“Not this time,” I answered. “I’ve learned.”

“What have you learned?”

“To use the word no.”

“And how did you learn that?” 

I had to think for a second.

“Have you ever wondered how it is that three little letters can be so powerful as to give us the key to open the doors of our prisons of fear? To teach us all that we must learn? How is it that we refuse to use them just because we carried a sting for a few seconds?”

“It’s sometimes risky,” I answered.

“For every yes, there is a no. For every no, there is a yes. There were two men. Each had ten coins. They both loved peaches. One man bought 100 peaches. He ate them every day for three months while the other man salivated at the sweet juice and nourishing flavor. But he had a bought a tree instead. So he watered it and took care of it and waited. For three years. After the first man was long out of peaches the other man had so many he did not know what to do with them all. 

They each said yes and they each said no, just to different things. I will say in your culture you much prefer the peaches to the tree. I’m not sure that is always most helpful for you.”