The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey

My mother reminded me of this Aesop story:

There was once a man, a boy, and a donkey walking down a road. A group of townspeople observed them and commented, “Why aren’t you riding your donkey? What a waste.”

So the man lifted his boy onto the donkey’s back, and they continued their journey. The next group of people they passed said, “What a disrespectful and lazy boy! Look at him letting his father walk while he rides.”

The man and boy switched places. Yet another group of townspeople saw the travelers and said, “What an uncaring father, making his young son walk on this hot day.”

The man and the boy decide to both ride the donkey. The next crowd they pass began to call, “Aren’t you ashamed to be overloading that poor donkey with all your weight? Poor animal.”

The man and boy then bound the donkey’s feet together and began to carry him suspended on a long pole. When the road came to a bridge over a river, the donkey got spooked, and kicked one of his legs free. The boy lost grip, dropped the pole, and the donkey fell into the river, drowning because his other feet were still tied.

Try to please everyone, and you please no one. It’s costly and dangerous to try.

Photo credit: AFP Photo/Qais Usyan