My Papa Rode a Donkey To Work

In Memory of my Grand Papa Thomas Smith 1901-1980

                                         

When my grandfather (Papa) went to work he rode a donkey. Think about that for a second. With all the current innovations of the modern vehicle; from the luxury Maserati's, Mercedes Benz, and those comfortable commuter train's and buses we have for getting to work these days. But for some people in past, present and future the donkey may never become an obsolete form of transport in some parts of the world.   Yet my papa rode the donkey with all it's galloping grace, trotting through gravel and stoney pathways, and up those rocky and harsh mountain sides; so that he could reach his crops or provisions as he called them in his garden (farm).

Today we have the luxury of navigation systems and/or GPS,  in our modern and "civilized" worlds; even our phones helps us with direction. But somehow the donkey knew the way to my grandfather's gardens without much assistance. Like any donkey without the rope around his neck and a gentle nudge he would easily go astray; but regardless, this donkey would take my grandfather to his garden without ever getting lost. Papa's donkeys was the securest form of logistics for his farming business.

When my grandfather lost a donkey through some form of an accident or sickness of the animal, it was a great loss for him and for the entire family. Because that meant that the crops would begin to ripen and go to waste. So then my uncles would have to accompany my grandfather to collect the crops, and they would have to walk for miles and climb those mountains with the cutlass, rake and hoe in hand to manually harvest the crops, and get this! they'd had to bring those things back in hand; with crops on their heads, along with the bunches of banana's, big brown bags of coffee, cocoa, or rice across their shoulders; walking back out and down to the village. So our donkey was a revered and loved animal in our family; one that you didn't want to lose. Even though my grandfather had two donkeys at a time, the loss of one would mean the loss in productivity, cost and time. So my grandfather loved his Jackasses as he called them.

My grandfather planted, banana, coffee, cocoa, and mango trees in his garden, he even planted rice (white rice and the red wild rice}, yams in variety, potatoes and every other kind of crop he felt like, because the land was fertile forest far away from the mainland. One nice scenic thing was the streams which ran into the river, and burst through the mountains and down to the valley. The fruits were succulent, so just imagine sinking your teeth into the yellowest and juiciest pineapple on planet earth, in the middle of a hot day, right there in the garden up in a forested mountain. Sometimes we would break open the shell covering of the cocoa fruit and suck on the beans to quench our thirst, they were so juicy an sweet.

Once I traveled on the donkey with my grandparents, two of my uncles and an aunt. I was five and they were all like teenagers to me. So I got to ride the donkey while everyone else walked, we had to go get those crops.  The only vehicle I could remember from that era was the Volkswagen Beetle, I guess because it was so small and as a child I thought how nice it might have been to have one to play inside. Sure, there were other types of cars but they never mattered to me because I only loved the beetle as a child, but I rode the donkey for convenience, guess maybe gas prices were high. That's a joke. We didn't own a VW Bug.

So where is the contrast in all this? Well whenever we think of the businessman, we often see the CEO of a huge financial corporation, or some industrial tycoon or financier's of our society as the mover and shakers of our world, but the reality is that there are individuals, students, and farmers who show the true integrity and grace it takes to be a business person, and in their own way influence the world.

So in conclusion whenever we in our modern societies eat an exotic fruit, pineapple, mango, or drink cocoa or coffee, let us remember that somewhere there is a farmer riding a donkey on some harsh, rustic, possibly muddy sliding mountain trail to get that convenience to us, just like my grandfather did.