Donkey, ass, burrow… name them what you wish; they don’t care. Just don’t call them stupid, stubborn or imprudent.
“Eventually, I came to eye the donkeys with no small measure of envy. They serenely nourish themselves with little evidently in mind but which shrub to chomp on and how to eat enough to live another day. They appear to live lives free of care, unafflicted by concerns about, say, making quarterly estimated tax payments or when the Federal Reserve Board might next hike interest rates. They follow the simplest of diets, high in fiber but low in protein and carbohydrates, and eat almost everything in sight. These humble quadrupeds, first domesticated in Africa around 5000 B.C., seem to have achieved the ultimate in contentment.” These observations are from Bob Brody, consultant and essayist, who is spending time in a small village in the heel of Italy where donkeys outnumber humans.
If taking your cue from an ass seems asinine, think again. After all, the likes of (pick one- many are credited) Bertrand Russell, T.S. Eliot, Kierkegaard orJohn Lennon remind us “The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.”
Celebrate Labor Day with “il dolce far niente,” translated literally as “the sweetness of doing nothing.” Less Labor. More loafing. idling. and doing less.