The Donkey and the Rabbit

Published on Feb 2, 2025, filed under philosophy, misc (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

A rabbit goes for her daily run. This day, she decides to try a new route. At an intersection she meets a donkey. When the donkey is about to eat a nail, she interrupts, “Hey donkey, why are you eating a nail? Don’t you know nails are bad for you?”

The donkey responds, “This is what donkeys do—a nail a day!”, and swallows the nail.

The next day, the rabbit returns to the intersection, again to find the donkey about to eat his daily nail. He’s visibly unwell. “Hey donkey, you don’t seem so well. Why don’t you stop eating nails?”

The donkey responds, “This is what donkeys do, and you can’t tell me what’s bad for me!”

The following day, the rabbit considers taking a different route for running, but is curious about the donkey. When she arrives at the intersection, there’s no donkey. She asks a nearby beaver: “Where’s the donkey?”

The beaver responds, “He’s gone, passing away in pain, like all donkeys do.”

The moral of the story: If something’s bad for you, stop doing it (even if you don’t yet know what to do instead, let alone “best”).

It reflects how I frequently feel about our state of affairs: We know all the various things that are bad for us, for others, for animals, for the environment, but we keep doing them. Unlike the donkeys in this fable, who only kill themselves, we pull everyone into the abyss with us. It’s primitive and f’ed up, and it doesn’t get better by the fact that clearly, we want this, because we could always choose something else—but don’t.

(It is in this light, then, that Private Property and similar concerns need to be read.)

Disambiguation: This fable has no connection to other donkeys and rabbits.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)