Donkey in Well - and goats in general

At times my life is really like a roller coaster of impossible situations that connect in unexpected ways.  I expect everyone feels this at times.  This week I found myself in an animal room at work with three small goats, a cat, seven rabbits and around two dozen students.  We were practising restraint and each one had to take it in turns holding the animals in position.  The students were nice the animals were even nicer and with good humour put up with everything we put them through.  The cat in particular allowed them to scruff her, wrap her in a make shift cat bag, lift her from cage to table with not so much as a sound.  The tiny goats stood calmly as student after student held them searched for a heartbeat.  I took photographs to record the restraint methods and a colleague spoke to the students of the three different types of goat we were using.  One was a miniature goat, which looked like the rest but was actually a year old.  Holding it was a trickier affair and at one point it launched itself in the air off the table, but was caught by the student in time.  You could feel the difference in muscles with this year old goat, sense it’s reluctance to be restrained by so many strangers.  No one was injured and all animals went home exhausted by all the handling but none the worse for their experience.  Hands were washed, safety observed.  The only thing I had not factored in was I had to teach the rest of the day smelling of goats.  People were actually backing away from me in corridors.  Some days life is like that, you think you’ve got through safe and sound and forget that one thing that comes back to bite you.  Here is a short piece that is not mine but I love it so much I wanted to include it here.

Donkey in Well story

“One day a 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 donkey 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 farmer finally looked down the well. He was astonished at what he saw. With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey did something amazing. He shook it off and took a step up.

As the 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.

The rest of the story….

The donkey later came back, and bit the farmer who had tried to bury him. The gash from the bite got infected and the farmer eventually died in agony from septic shock.

The moral of the story….

When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.”