In some places, traps are made by cutting a hole in a coconut just big enough for a monkey’s hand, and then tying it to a tree with a banana inside. The monkey reaches in and grabs the banana, but gets stuck because it can’t get its hand out without letting go of the banana. All it needs to do is let go. Instead, it ends up in a stew. Monkeys are stubborn.

Sometimes we cling to things — arguments, ideas, relationships — because we already have so much invested in them, even though we might be better off letting them go. Humans are stubborn, too (but we are supposedly smarter than monkeys).