Article September 8, 1951 Issue

ON REFUSING TO CARRY A DONKEY

NANA WOLAVER

One of Aesop's fables tells of a miller and his son leading their donkey to market to be sold. They first met some girls who criticized them for not riding the donkey, whereupon the father permitted the son to do so. Next, several old friends of the miller chided him for spoiling his son by letting him ride while he himself trudged along on foot; so the two exchanged places. Later, a party of women and children condemned the father's selfishness, and they both rode. Finally, some travelers remarked that they would do better to carry the donkey, for by the time he got to the market he would be too exhausted for anyone to look at him. So they tied the donkey's legs and carried him dangling from the middle of a pole. This caused onlookers to be so hilarious that the frightened donkey kicked himself loose as he was being carried across a bridge, fell into the stream beneath, and was drowned. The moral of this tale, according to Aesop, is that he who tries to please all, pleases no one and may lose his donkey into the bargain.

In Christian Science one learns he should neither try merely to please persons nor to make the pleasing of any person the basis of his decisions. Paul stated (Gal. 1:10), "Do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ." In "A Rule for Motives and Acts," found in the Manual of The Mother Church, Mary Baker Eddy counsels (Art. VIII, Sect. 1): "Neither animosity nor mere personal attachment should impel the motives or acts of the members of The Mother Church. In Science, divine Love alone governs man." We are taught first of all to please God, divine Love, in every decision we make, no matter how trivial it may seem to be.

The importance of pleasing God rather than persons was shown by Jesus when he said (Matt. 7:21), "Not every one that saith unto me. Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." He who does the will of God, or pleases Him rather than persons, is the one who enters into the kingdom. If one desires harmony and bliss, both of which are mentioned in the definition of heaven given on page 587 of the Christian Science textbook, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures" by Mrs. Eddy, he can have them only by pleasing God. There is no other way.

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