Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings lived; happiness, sadness, knowledge, and all the others, including love.
One day, it was announced to all of the feelings that the island was going to sink to the bottom of the ocean. So all the feelings prepared their boats to leave.
Love was the only one that stayed. She wanted to preserve the island paradise until the last possible moment. When the island was almost totally under, love decided it was time to leave.
She began looking for someone to ask for help.
Just then Richness was passing by in a grand boat. Love asked,"Richness, Can I come with you on your boat?"
Richness answered, "I'm sorry, but there is a lot of silver and gold on my boat and there would be no room for you anywhere."
Then Love decided to ask Vanity for help who was passing in a beautiful vessel. Love cried out, "Vanity, help me please."
"I can't help you", Vanity said, "You are all wet and will damage my beautiful boat."
Next, Love saw Sadness passing. Love said, "Sadness, please let me go with you."
Sadness answered, "Love, I'm sorry but I just need to be alone now."
Then, Love saw Happiness. Love cried out,"Happiness, please take me with you." But, Happiness was so over overjoyed that he didn't hear Love calling to him.
Love began to cry. Then she heard a voice say, "Come Love, I will take you with me." It was an elder. Love felt so blessed and overjoyed that she forgot to ask the elder his name. When they arrived on land the elder went on his way. Love realized how much she owed the elder.
Love then found Knowledge and asked. "It was Time", Knowledge answered.
"But why did Time help me when no one else would?",Love asked.
Knowledge smiled and with deep wisdom and sincerity, answered,
"Because only Time is capable of understanding how great Love is."
The Animal cried piteously for hours as the Farmer tried to figure out what to do.
Finally, he decided the Animal was old, and the Well needed to be covered up anyway; it just wasn't worth it to retrieve the donkey.
He invited all his neighbours to come over and help him.
They all grabbed a shovel and began to shovel dirt into the Well. At first, the donkey realized what was happening and cried horribly.
Then, to everyone's amazement he quieted down.
A few shovel loads later, the Farmer finally looked down the Well. He was astonished at what he saw.
With each shovel of dirt that hit his back, the donkey was doing something amazing.
He would shake it off and take a step up.
As the Farmer's neighbours continued to shovel dirt on top of the animal, he would 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 happily trotted off!
Moral: Life is going to shovel dirt on You, 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 troubles is a steppingstone. We can get out of the deepest Wells just by not stopping, never giving up! Shake it off and take a step up. Thats the Attitude to be.