A farmer discovered a donkey in his well.
After a long reflection in front of the animal in distress, he decided that it was too old and that it was not profitable to recover it.
Reluctantly, he invited the neighborhood to come and help him, and all seized a shovel to bury the unfortunate equine.
The donkey quickly realized what was happening and began to scream! … then, after a few minutes, it was suddenly silent.
Surprised, the farmer leaned over and found that with each shovelful of earth on his back, the donkey was doing something amazing: it was shaking to slide it to the ground and climb on it!
Thus, while the farmer’s neighbors continued to shovel the animal, this one shook himself and, step by step, continued to rise.
It was then that to the big surprise of everyone, the donkey finally came out of the well and began to trot, happier than ever!
Life sometimes tries to engulf us under our difficulties, but the thing to do and to get out of it is to shake off our dirt in order to move forward.
Let’s remember this when life no longer appears on our side: Every challenge is also a stone to rise, to escape from the distress into which we have fallen.
Excerpt from Samuel Stemmer’s book “Never the Sun sees the Shadow”
