The man, the wife, the donkey and the Critics

A man and her wife were once going with their donkey to market. As they were walking along by his side a countryman passed them and said, "You fools, what is a donkey for but to ride upon?" So the man and her wife ride on the donkey, and they went on their way.

But soon they passed a group of men, one of whom said, "Aren't you ashamed of yourself for overloading that poor donkey of yours -- you and your wife?"

So the man ordered her wife to get a ride,
But they hadn't gone far when they passed two men, one of whom said to the other, “ stupid man he should ride because he is the boss, not her wife”

So he ordered her wife to go down and he got a ride.
But they hadn't gone far when they passed two men, one of whom said to the other, “ what a selfish man! he should be kind to his wife”

So the man and her wife got off and tried to think what to do. They thought and they thought, until 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 until they came to a bridge, when the donkey, getting one of his feet loose, kicked out and caused the wife 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.

Moral:

1.      You cannot please everybody. Whatever you do, there will be people who will criticize you, so just do what you believe is right, and don't be distracted by criticisms.

2.     The great lesson of life is to be true to ourselves and not trying to please everyone else’s idea of what and who we should be.

3.     We must always start with who we are if our goal is greatness. Once we have the courage to be real we can’t be ugly either.

4.       It is finding the courage to risk being an authentic person that is the challenge. We are afraid to let go of our protective devices for fear of rejection and loss when just the opposite is the truth.