Wednesday April 8, 2008 5:30 am Lismore NSW

I bought this book on an impulse while I was waiting in the Vancouver airport for my flight to Australia. I am glad I did.

The book is both lyrical and meditative. There are a large number of contrasts between the reaction of a donkey and the reaction of people to the same or similar situations.

• "Around the bend I go. A meadow opens itself to the world. The music inside me is a sonata, but the landscape outside is a symphony. Up here Schubert comes into his own, ... " [p. 2]
  
  
• " No horse could ever pace up a narrow mountain pass carrying a donkey's load, could do it so assuredly or confidently, so reliably or patiently. Horses are faster, yet have much less endurance than donkeys, and are nowhere near as agile. They're edgier, too, especially in tight situations. They bolt whereas a donkey freezes. ... donkeys ... have a highly developed sense of self-preservation. Thus a donkey's perceived stubborness." [p. 3]
  
  
• "Time slows down amid donkeys. In their company things happen quietly and methodically." [p. 4]
  
  
• "We move slowly when we want to listen to ourselves, to others, and to the world around us. ... The rush of contemporary life overwhelms our ability to observe, to hear, to step back and wonder, and to meditate." [p. 4]
  
  
• "They're content and so am I, more content than I ever was in any frenzied throng; I'm rediscovering myself up a mountain, in silent company." [p. 5]

The book contnues in this way for another 250 pages. I loved reading it. Slowly.