Shake the Dirt & Step Forward…..

One evening a farmer’s donkey fell down a deep well. The animal cried piteously all through the night and for hours the next morning. The farmer thought through the morning and discussed with some of his friends at the corner shop, where the men would usually gather to discuss the happening of the previous day and what the highlights in the newspaper are over a cup of coffee. The farmer tossed his concern of the fallen donkey to the group.

After discussing this matter for some time. the neighbours and the farmer decided the donkey was too old and will need to be put to sleep. Since it was in the well they thought the best was to cover the well up, thereby burying the donkey.

They agreed to meet the next day around mid-afternoon, to fill the well in and thereby hopeful put the donkey’s cry for help to rest.

The group gathered at three pm, each with a shovel in their hand and proceed to shovel dirt into the well, they kept shovelling and shovelling and shovelling the dirt into the well.

As the dirt was shovelled into the well, the donkey was crying out louder and louder. Then suddenly, the cry of the donkey stopped. The farmer peaked over the well, to see what had happened.

To his amazement he was astonished to see the donkey with every shovel of dirt that fell on the donkey’s back, the donkey was doing something different…

The donkey would shake off the dirt and take a few steps forward. He would shake off the dirt and take a few steps forward. He did this repeatedly — shake off the dirt and step forward.

Pretty soon to everyone’s amazement the donkey stepped up over the edge of the wall and totted off….The donkey raised itself slowly but surely to the top of the well, with every shovel of dirt thrown at it.

In Life too …

Dirt will be shovelled at us. All kinds of dirt….

Now the trick is ….to role model the donkey, shake it off and take a step forward, shake it off and take a step forward…. This is very simple; we tend to complicate the simple to the difficult.

Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. It does not matter how deep the well is, — how you are bogged down with troubles and tribulations.

What matters is:

Remember to never give up, we can get out of trouble by just repeating the process….

Shake the Dirt, Step Forward, Shake the Dirt, step forward.

-David Nair