Years 7 to 11 Mass and Awards

Persistence – The act of persisting or persevering; continuing or repeating behaviour.

The Donkey and the Well - A story about never giving up.

“One day a farmer’s donkey felldown into a well. The donkey cried for hours, as the farmer tried to figure out what to do. Finally, the farmer decided the animal was past it and the well needed to be covered up anyway, it just wasn’t worth it to retrieve the donkey.

The farmer invited all the neighbours to come over and help. They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the well and on the donkey. At first the donkey realised what was happening and cried horribly, then to everyone’s amazement, the donkey quietened down.

A few shovel loads later, the farmer and the neighbours finally looked down the well and were astonished at what they saw. With every shovel of dirt that hit the donkey’s back, the donkey was revelling in the dirt. The donkey would shake it off and take a step up.

As the farmer and neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the donkey, the donkey would continue to 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 trotted off”.

You see, life is going to shovel dirt on you (or some would say give you lemons). 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 challenges is a steppingstone, we can get out of the deepest wells by persevering. Never giving up! Some key points:

to success in life. Talent must be nurtured daily. Give yourself a moment to appreciate what you’ve achieved, but no more. When the time comes to move forward, success is but a single point on a much longer journey - it is not the end of that journey. Perhaps you might remember the story of the black belt? Imagine a company like Apple stopping after the iPod or Henry Ford deciding the Model T was good enough.

Where would we be today without people constantly striving to improve upon what they’ve already achieved?