A farmer’s donkey falls into a deep well. He is now trapped, helpless. The poor animal cried for hours as the farmer stood above, trying to figure out what to do. Finally, after thinking it over, the farmer sighed, and sadly he knew what he had to do. The donkey was old, and the well was dry and needed to be covered up anyway. It just wasn’t worth the trouble to pull the animal out, so he made a decision. He called his neighbors over, handed them shovels, and together they started filling the well with dirt. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried out in terror. He panicked. He screamed. But then, something changed. He went quiet.
Many shovels later, the farmer finally looked down into the well, expecting to see the donkey buried under the dirt. Instead, he saw something amazing. With every load of dirt that hit his back, the donkey shook it off and took a step up. Again and again, as the dirt rained down, he refused to let it bury him. He didn’t fight it. He didn’t give up. He just kept shaking it off and stepping up. Until finally, he reached the top, climbed over the edge, and trotted off. Free.
Life is going to throw dirt on you. All kinds of dirt. Problems, failures, setbacks, betrayals. Sometimes from the people you thought would help you. But you have a choice. You can let it bury you, or you can shake it off and step up. Every challenge, every disappointment, every moment when you feel stuck at the bottom of the well, it’s not the end. It’s just another step. The trick is not to stop, not to give up; because the same dirt that tries to bury you, that’s the dirt you can stand on to climb higher. So whatever you’re going through, whatever feels impossible right now, shake it off, take a step up, and keep moving forward.
“Never give up, for that is just the place and time that the tide will turn.”
-Harriet Beecher Stowe
“We must accept finite disappointment but never lose infinite hope.”
-Martin Luther King Jr
“Difficulties strengthen the mind, as labor does the body.”
-Seneca
“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning how to sail my ship.”
-Louisa May Alcott
