INSIGHT CRIZ

You might have heard of Aesop’s fables on “The Man, The Boy and The Donkey”. The story goes like this. A Man and his Son were once going with their Donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools! What is a Donkey for but to ride on?” So the Man put the Boy on the Donkey and they went on their way. But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said, “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides.” So the Man ordered his Boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy lout to let his poor little son trudge along.”

Well, the Man didn’t know what to do, but at last he took his Boy up before him on the Donkey. By this time they had come to the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and point at them. The Man stopped and asked what they were scoffing at. The men said, “Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey with you and your hulking son?”

The Man and Boy got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, till at last they cut down a pole, tied the donkey’s feet to it, and raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders. They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge, when the Donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the Boy to drop his end of the pole. In the struggle the Donkey fell over the bridge, and his fore-feet being tied together he was drowned. “That will teach you,” said an old man who had followed them. “Please all, and you will please none.”

How true it is that we cannot please everyone. We have to realize that everyone takes different paths and paces to reach the same goal. Therefore, we should not stop others from practicing their way to achieve a task which differs from ours. We are living in a society that is ever changing. There are many views and opinions from all walks of life and we have to respect and deal with them professionally.

Sometimes, the opinion of others might be right but we have to study in-depth whether it is beneficial to our self improvement. If it is not, then discards the opinion and does what you think is right. It is just impossible to please everyone just because they have different opinions or else you would get yourself into more troubles.

It is in the human nature that a person would comment by criticizing, blaming, shouting and laughing at another. If a person just followed blindly in order to please that person, he would be like a slave following the orders of a master without having a stand for himself. It is just like walking along a path filled with pebbles barefooted as ordered when you are having a nice comfortable pair of shoes for your long journey.

It was not wrong for the Man and the Boy to walk along with the Donkey to the market. If he made his stand on moving on without listening to others, he would not end up losing the Donkey. To a person it might be a stupid way but to another, it might just be the right way to achieve what he wanted. What would you do if you were the Man? Would you like to share your opinion here?