Today's Lesson

[JohnP]

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 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 neighbors 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 was doing something amazing. He would shake it off and take a step up. As the farmer's neighbors 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.
Remember the five simple rules to be happy:
Free your heart from hatred - Forgive.
Free your mind from worries - Most never happen.
Live simply and appreciate what you have.
Give more.
Expect less
NOW ............
Enough of that crap . . . 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.
MORAL FROM TODAY'S LESSON:
When you do something wrong, and try to cover your ass, it always comes back to bite you.

[Hawks Feather]

That reminds me of this one.

Inspiration for the Unhappy

There once was a little bird that was enjoying himself around the barnyard.  He just loved to hop around singing and didn’t really worry about anything in the world.  As summer turned to fall the temperatures started to drop and the birds started talking about making their annual migration to warmer weather for the winter.  The little bird knew that he was far more knowledgeable than the other birds and so he paid little attention to them.  The other birds told him that it was time to leave because there would be cold weather and even snow coming soon, but he knew more than they did and ignored their warning.  Even after all the other birds had flown south the little bird continued to play in the barnyard.  One morning the little bird awoke to a very cold wind and rain that was quickly turning to ice.  He knew that he was in trouble and should have listened to the other birds’ warnings.  He spread his wings and tried to fly buy found that his wings were covered in ice and rather than flying, he fell to the ground in the barnyard.  He lay there as more and more ice built up on his little body and knew that he should have listened to the other birds.  Now he was going to die, right there in the barnyard.  As he was laying there some of the cattle walked by and one of them dropped a large pile of manure on him.  What an unbelievable way to end my life he thought â€" covered in a pile of manure.  As he lay there an unexpected thing started to happen â€" the manure, while smelly, was giving his body warmth and he was starting to regain his body temperature and the ice was melting on his wings.  As this proceeded, he became so happy that he started to sing like he had never sung before.  The barnyard cat, hearing the singing, came over and started digging in the manure, found the bird, and ate him.

While many think that this is the end of the story and the moral of the story is to listen to those who know more than you, there are actually several others.

1.  Not everyone who craps on you is your enemy.

2.  Not everyone who takes crap off of you is your friend.

3.  If you are safe and warm, even if it is in a pile of crap, keep your mouth shut!