Please All and You Please None

I am blogging another famous Aesop's fable, which I always keep close to my heart and life. This story reminds me of a simple but famous quote - "You can please some of the people some of the time or all of the time, but you can never please all of the people all of the time". Here's the story - I know this is a difficult concept to grasp -

This story is from an era before motor vehicles when people used to walk everywhere.

Once a farmer and his son wanted to go to market in a small rural village. It was a sunny day and they brought their donkey along. Three of them started walking to the market. An old man passing along the way started laughing - "Foolish people, there's a donkey with them, but nobody's on it." The farmer and his son felt embarrassed. A farmer instructed his son to ride a donkey.

Soon, they saw some women fetching water from a well. Their whispers began, "Young boy is sitting happily and forcing the old father to walk in a dreadful summer day, such a disrespectful son." The son agreed and requested that his father should ride a donkey while he could walk behind them. Therefore, they switched. They might have gone only somewhat further when the farmer and son met a group of men who were shocked by the father's inconsiderate act and started commenting, "Look father is riding and making son walk behind helplessly. Shame on such a father, who uses their kid like a slave."

Ah...father and son got frustrated. Finally, both father and son decided to ride the donkey in an attempt to stop people from talking. But no use, soon an old grumpy priest passed by, he came angrily to them and started yelling. "You should be ashamed of yourself for torturing the poor donkey. Remember He is watching 😡 ."

The father and son got off the donkey and started thinking about how they could go to the market without upsetting anyone. They came up with an idea. They tied the donkey's leg to a long, steady branch and carried the donkey away on the branch. Now they became laughing stock. It was embarrassing and confusing for them. Moreover, as the donkey struggled to free himself, their hands started shaking. They came across an unstable bridge while crossing the river, and the donkey was still trying to free himself. As a result of the struggle, the donkey fell over the bridge and drowned.

This incident made the farmer and his son infamous for killing a poor animal.

The moral is simple, you cannot please everyone around you. The ideal way is to lay out all the options and choose the one that works best for you. When you trust yourself then only others can trust you.