“That is how a donkey reads”

By leulseged worku

There was a man who is considered as wisest in his community. He had a great respect from all members of the community. He was even considered as half human and half divine. But the truth is, he was not wise as they think or have an extra ordinary power. Instead, he was smart and flexible. Unlike other members of his community he was good in doing things in different way. He was ready to attempt to doing things in different ways.

Once impressed by the fame of this “wise” man the king of that place send messengers to this man and he was invited to the palace. Arriving the palace, the king provide him a red-carpet treatment and he said “Dear friend, I heard a lot about you. You have a great respect form my subjects. I heard that you are capable of doing things that are difficult for ordinary man. I have invited honorable guests into my land kingdom. They will be here week. I want them to impress with the prosperity of my land and I want them to know how advanced we are. . I want them to impress with something new which never happened through out the world. So, i will give you an assignment to train a donkey to read a book. I want you train a donkey to read book in front of my guests. If you successfully train the donkey to read book, you will have special place in my court. But, if you fail to do so, you will be hanged in front of them. If you need money or anything that will help you to accomplish your task you have a free access to my treasure.”

After saying this, the king send the “wise man” back to home. The man was highly perplexed how to train a donkey reading book. And started training the donkey. But, nothing new happened. Finally he gave up and started to drink and enjoy with his friends.

Whenever his friends asked him how things are going his response was “nothing new. If I am lucky the donkey will read in front of guests. If i am not, I will be killed in front of them.”

The day arrived. All honored guests took their place to see a reader donkey. And the program coordinator announced the donkey and the wise man to the audiences and they took the podium. After introducing himself to the audiences, he gave the book that holds a straw hidden at each page to his donkey. Then, the donkey puts its nose inside the book. And after spending fraction of seconds in each page it went on leafing all the pages.

Everyone was exited with this. But the king had suspected that the donkey was not reading but it was masticating the straw that was hidden in every page. So, he asked the man to tell the donkey to read loudly. But, the man responded him by saying “sorry, your highness that is how the donkey reads.

Yes!! that is how the donkey reads. No one can manipulate a donkey to act like a man. Likewise, no one can manipulate man to act like a donkey. A donkey is born to carry gods not to read book. If you attempt to make a donkey a reader, you are wasting your money and time. Because, the donkey is born to act like a donkey.

At the same time, you can not manipulate man to to act what he really is not. Every man is born with his own quality, talent and gifts. If you attempt to create something new within him, you will create fake personality that lacks passion. You will kill his creativity. You might maximize your profit but you will discourage that man from opening a new gate for better future. You will force him to act like a bull not like an eagle.

We had been through different manipulation programs which were against our will. When we were kids, our family have tried to manipulate us. As a student it was our teachers. And now our bosses and friends are a serious challenge for our identity. They will attempt to manipulate us. They will tell us their religion is better than ours, they will tell us their political stand is better than ours. They will tell us their personal philosophy is more better than ours. But why? Why are they try to look passionless personalty within us. Why are they look for Einstein within us while we were born to act like Shakespeare? Why are they try to look for Hitler within us while we were born to fight racial inequality? Why are they try to find Edison within us while we were born with a spirit of Plato ? If Mozart's mother was forced her son to be Shakespeare can we enjoy with his classical musics? What if the mother of Edison forced her son to be a painter or medical doctor? Can we enjoy with the light of bulbs? I doubt so!

Once i was reading Norman Vincent`s self development book. According to him, there must be a new generation that act like an eagle, which is individualistic instead of a bull that can not do anything by itself. If you act like an eagle you can come up with a new idea. However, if we all act like a bull we are always after our belly.