The Old Farmer and His Donkey

I gave my third speech from the story telling manual / advanced communication & leadership manual at Promuda Toastmasters Club Meeting tonight.

My speech was called "The Old Farmer and His Donkey":

One day The Old Farmer's donkey fell down into a well. The animal cried piteously for hours as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, he decided the animal was old, and the well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.

He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well. At first, The Donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly. Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.

A few shovel loads later, The Old Farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, The Donkey was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up.

As The Old Farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would shake it off and take a step up. Pretty soon, everyone was amazed as The Donkey stepped up over the edge of the well and happily trotted off!

Life is going to shovel dirt on you, all kinds of dirt. The trick to getting out of the well is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up.

Anyways, the next day, The Old Farmer, His Son, and The Donkey were going to town. The Son rode on The Donkey and The Old Farmer walked.

As they went along they passed some people who remarked it was a shame the old man was walking and the boy was riding. The Old Farmer and His Son thought maybe the critics were right, so they changed positions.

Later, they passed some people that remarked, "What a shame, he makes that little boy walk." They then decided they both would walk!

Soon they passed some more people who thought they were stupid to walk when they had a decent donkey to ride. So, they both rode The Donkey.

Now they passed some people that shamed them by saying how awful to put such a load on a poor donkey. The Old Farmer and His Son, said they were probably right, so they decided to carry The Donkey.

As they crossed the bridge, they lost their grip on the animal and he fell into the river and drowned.

The moral of the story:
If you try to please everyone, you might as well kiss your ass good-bye!