My father's favorite story.

Two monks approach a river. There is a desperate elderly woman crying along the bank. "What could be troubling you so deeply?" The first monk asks. "Why I've been stuck at this river all day and my bones aren't strong to weather the current", the old woman replies. "Well hop on my back and we'll make it across together." The second monk looks on in astonishment and worry as he reminds his friend how its illegal to let the woman ride him across the river, but the first monk pays him no mind. So they make it across the river and it's several more miles into the monks journey. "I still can't believe you let the woman ride you across the river like that, you know how illegal it is." The first monk takes a few more paces before responding then calmly and cooly says "My friend I simply carried that old woman across the river, but it is you who has carried her the miles since."