YOU’VE GOT THIS PUNCH

“Awww…” I cried out. “He’s making friends!”

“Who’s making friends?” My son Alex asked as he walked into the living room.

I was sitting on the couch with my phone in my hand. “Punch!” I held out my phone to show him the video of a baby macaque monkey holding an orange orangutan stuffed animal was being groomed by an adult monkey. “The other monkey is grooming him.” I couldn’t help but smile as I turned the phone back to face me as I watched the rest of the video.

Suddenly another monkey came up next to them and pushed Punch away. “NO!” I cried as I watched little punch run away, dragging his stuffed orangutan behind him. “They can be so mean to him.”

“What’s wrong with him?” Alex asked as he sat down next to me watching as Punch found a quiet spot behind a rock and cuddled his stuffed animal.

I shook my head. “For some reason his mother rejected him after he was born and the zookeepers gave him the stuffed animal to keep him company.”

Alex looked confused. “Where is this?”

“He’s at a zoo in Japan.” I pulled up another video. “It popped up on my Facebook feed about a week ago and I’ve been following him ever since.” I pulled up one of the first videos I’d watched to show him. In it, older monkeys are seen tossing him around while poor baby Punch is screaming and running to his orangutan stuffy for comfort.

Alex shook his head. “How can you watch that?”

“At first it broke my heart.” I explained. “But, as each day went by, you could see some of the older monkeys begin to accept him into their troop.”

I pulled up a video of one of them holding little Punch. “Like this one.” I couldn’t help but smile. “He’s slowly winning them over.”

Just then, one of the zookeepers came into the enclosure with a bucket of seeds and began tossing them around the enclosure. Punch quickly ran over and jumped on the zookeepers leg, clinging to him as he tossed the food to the other monkeys.

When the bucket was almost empty the zookeeper walked over to Punch’s stuffed animal, sprinkling some food around it, trying to get Punch to stay on the orangutan while he attempted to leave the enclosure.

Punch wasn’t having it. Each time he was placed on the stuffed animal and the zookeeper walked away Punch was right back on his leg clinging to him.

“Oh, come on.” I turned the phone for Alex to see. “Isn’t that adorable?”

Alex shook his head some more. “I don’t know. It seems kind of sad to me.”

“At first it seemed sad to me, too.” I agreed. “But watching him this past week I can’t help but admire just how tenacious this little guy is.” I looked over at Alex and smiled. “He’s giving everyone watching his videos the life lesson where you should never give up.”

Alex laughed. “You’re getting your life lessons from a baby monkey?”

“Hey, I can get a life lesson from just about anything.” I looked back at my phone where Punch was dragging his stuffed animal over behind a rock where he sat on the stuffed animal’s belly and tried to eat his food in peace and quiet.

Moments later an older monkey came over to him and sat next to him while he’s eating. “You’ve got this Punch!” I looked over at Alex. “He’s making friends!”

Alex got up, gave me a kiss on the top of my head before heading to the kitchen. “I’m glad you’re happy for Punch.”

“I really am!” I smiled as the video was almost finished.