There is a story told of two monks in Japan traveling together down a muddy road.  A heavy rain falling.  Coming around the bend, they met a lovely girl in a silk kimono and sash, unable to cross the intersection.  “Come on, girl,” said Tenzan at once.  Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

Iquito did not speak again until that night when they reached a lodging temple.  Then he could restrain himself no longer.  “We monks don’t go near females,” he told Tenzan, “especially not young and lovely ones.  It is dangerous.  Why did you do that?”

“I left the girl there,” said Tenzan.  “Are you still carrying her?”

Well put.  We must leave temptation behind.  We must learn to pass through situations rather than carrying them with us.  We must learn how not to be swamped by the situations in which we find ourselves.  We must learn how to get through them with a minimum of damage and a maximum of profit.