firda
Look On the Bright Side
In the Plaza de España in Madrid there stands a bronze statue of literature’s first sidekick: Sancho Panza, the peasant who acts as the squire to Don Quixote on his quests. The statue shows Sancho astride his own sidekick, the donkey named Dapple.
Sancho and Dapple are well-suited to each other. Though they are both of lowly station, they persevere against odds that daunt the lordly and the well-bred. Donkeys have a reputation for being stubborn and headstrong. What passes for stubbornness is, in fact, a highly developed talent for being sensible. Unlike a high-strung horse, a donkey always knows where he places his feet. A donkey knows when to sit down and rest. There may be more statues of horses than of donkeys, but no donkey has ever allowed a man to ride him into battle.
Donkeys possess a modest, down-to-earth wisdom. A steady, imperturbable wisdom. A horse may dream of winning the Kentucky Derby. A donkey dreams of getting a carrot. The true wisdom of a donkey is revealed by the fact that donkey dreams more often come true.
Blog photograph copyrighted to the photographer and used with permission by utata.org. All photographs used on utata.org are stored on flickr.com and are obtained via the flickr API. Text is copyrighted to the author, greg fallis and is used with permission by utata.org. Please see Show and Share Your Work
