This story comes from India, in the 1850s. At the home of the British Governor General, a three-year-old child wandered into a group of adults. There was nothing extraordinary in that other than the child was clutching a small poisonous snake: a Russell’s viper. The child’s father, with as calm a voice as he could muster, said, “John, put that down right this minute.” John could have thought his father’s words were designed to ruin his fun. John could have written off his father’s words and kept on doing what he was doing. John could have done that and John would have died. Thankfully, John listened to the words of a loving father and lived.
