The DONKEY Story

My brother won, "Most Likely to Succeed" at his senior dinner on Friday. He is one of 41 graduates at the alternative school. I was really happy for him!! During the dinner, Pastor Granger spoke to the graduates and family members. His message was, "Self-Control--Keys to Success."  He opened with these statistics,

A recent national survey found,

27% of the population could be welfare recipients
60% of the population are "just getting by" in life
10% of the population are moderately successful
3%  of the population are highly successful

The survey also examined attitudes,

27% made no effort at all to plan for their future
60% gave some thought to the future
10% had a good idea of where they were headed
3%  had written down goals

He then went on to define success as not being what you have, but who you are. To be successful, he gave the graduates 5 Keys...

1. Master Your Mood--
2. Restrain Your Reactions
3. Manage Your Money
4. Maintain Your Health
5. Screen Your Group

He then went on to tell what I call "The Donkey Story."

There was an old man who had a donkey. He need to go into town so he asked a young boy to go with him. He told the young boy, "I will ride on the donkey and you will walk beside us as we go into town." As they were going along, people saw them and began to shake their head in disapproval, "Look at that man, riding on the donkey and making the young boy walk; he should be ashamed of himself," is what they said. The old man was hurt by these comments so he decided to let the boy ride the donkey while he walked beside them. 

As they were walking others saw them and scowled, "Look at that young strong boy riding the donkey and making that old man walk, what a shame."  The old man heard and was disturbed by what they were saying, so he decided that both he and the boy would ride the donkey into town.

People gasped, "Look at that poor donkey, they should be ashamed of themselves they are too heavy to be riding on that donkey like that."  The old man heard and his feelings were hurt. So, he decided that to go into town, they both would walk besides the donkey.

Some other people saw and shook their head, " That's a shame, they have a perfectly good donkey and no one will ride on it."

That was a good story that illustrates that no matter what you do in life, someone will always have something to say, so DO YOU and don't worry about what others will do or say about you.