If you allow your actions to be determined by what others may say or think, you will never do what you want to in
life.
Aesop in one of his fables tells the story of the man, the boy, and the donkey. A man and his son were going with
their donkey to market. As they were walking along by its side a countryman passed them and said: “You fools,
what is a donkey for but to ride upon?” So the man put the boy on the donkey and they went on their way. Soon
they passed a group of men, one of whom said: “See that lazy youngster, he lets his father walk while he rides”.
So the man ordered his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn’t gone far when they passed two
women, one of whom said to the other: “Shame on that lazy man to let his poor little son trudge along”. So he
lifted his boy up on the donkey with him.
Coming to the town, the people began to jeer and point at them. The man stopped and
asked what they were scoffing at. The men said: ”Aren’t you ashamed of yourself for
overloading that poor donkey with you and your son?” The man and boy got off and
decided to solve the problem by cutting down a pole, and tying the donkey’s feet to it.
They then raised the pole and the donkey to their shoulders.
They went along amid the laughter of all who met them till they came to Market Bridge,
when the donkey, getting one of his feet loose, caused the boy to drop his end of the pole.
In the struggle the donkey fell over the bridge, and drowned.
You will never please everybody so do not worry about what other people think, no matter
how well meaning they may be. Many will try to talk you out of doing those things that you
want to achieve. We call them ‘The Dream Busters’. Mark Twain said of them:
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that,
but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”
There was a fisherman who never put a lid on his basket of lobsters. When asked was he not afraid of them
climbing over the edge and getting away, he said, “Heck no, the moment one makes a bid for freedom all of the
others drag him back in”.
The lobsters in our life are parents, children, relatives, friends, work associates, those in
authority and even neighbors to name a few who will attempt to discourage you from your ambitions. In most cases they are well meaning and
do not want you to fail or to be disappointed, and to lose what you have. Other
times as mentioned before, they are severely jealous all because that no matter
what, they can't compete. Either way, if you are swayed by them and the way they see life you will finish back in the basket with them.
Christopher Columbus was thought mad, but he ignored all and lived his dream and sailed to discover
the new world.
Galileo, one the world’s greatest astronomers, was persecuted for what he believed. He was
labeled a heretic
and his writings were banned, but he continued to write until he went blind.