Once upon a time in a farm, there lived only two animal species — donkeys and horses. The donkeys would do all the donkey work in the farm — sowing the seeds, watering the crop, cutting the hay, hence carrying all the baggage of farm (both literally and metaphorically). Yet they received the least amount of appreciation. The owner of the farm never cared for their well being and would often kick them to get all the work done. Their living condition was miserable and were only given the left over hay as food. The donkeys were continuously criticized and never appreciated for their hard work.

On the contrary, the horses enjoy all the luxury in the farm. They were properly fed, bathed and cleaned regularly. People would come and visit them, pay high prices to ride them, and bet on them during the derby races. When the sun would shine bright, the horses would be the first to go out in greener pastures to eat.

None of the donkeys were happy with this second grade treatment, and felt their basic animal rights were denied. Hence, all the donkeys gathered for a meeting, to identify ways on how to get respectful treatment in the society.

One of the donkeys said, “I have spent my entire life working for my master. And, honest to God, I have done my work sincerely and quietly. Yet I feel that I have always been invisible to my master. We work the hardest, yet nobody appreciates our work and our master often beats us as per his will. I wonder if I die tomorrow, he will not even notice.” As the donkey shared his pain, tears began to roll out of his eyes — and everyone in the drove felt the same emotion.

All the donkeys began to brainstorm on how this situation can be rectified. Different ideas were proposed but the group could not agree to any of it. Finally, after much deliberation, the eldest and wisest of all the donkeys stood up and said, ”We must resort to non violence to get our voices heard. Leaders across the globe, and throughout the history have used this method and came out victorious. I heard there was a man with a dream who led a revolution for the upliftment of the society. Similarly there was a very powerful man — people call him Gandhi — who lead a non cooperation movement against the mighty tyrants.”

All the donkeys unanimously agreed to it. Then the eldest donkey continued to say, “We must start a non-cooperation movement. Whatever we do — big or small, important or not important — we shall stop doing anything and everything from this very moment. All the donkeys in the farm shall go on strike now. The is our fight for equal rights as animals.”

And so it happened. All the donkeys in the farm went on strike, and the news of the donkeys strike spread far and wide.

Taking inspiration from this, all the donkeys in the world — who were subjected to unfair treatment — went on a strike.

Such donkeys included all the unappreciated workers, people who clean toilets for others, office workers who prepare presentations for their managers, construction worker who work for high rise buildings, farmers who are often not paid appropriately for their produce, and all those people who do the most menial jobs for their wealthy masters. All the people who are there — yet their masters refuse to see them.

Suddenly, the world came to a standstill.

All the masters, who had been disrespectful, now realized the importance of all the donkeys in the world.

Horses are important, but so are the donkeys.

The farm master realized the point donkeys had been trying to make, apologized to them for his behavior and agreed to make amends.

In this world, we are all donkey sometimes, doing all the donkey work — that goes unappreciated, unnoticed and unrewarded. Yet we must take pride in our work — however small it might be. And if required at times, we need to take a stand for ourselves.

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 — If you like reading animal stories, please refer to this list “Fables”.
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