Running with Sherman: How a Rescue Donkey Inspired a Rag-tag Gang of Runners to Enter the Craziest Race in America

by Christopher McDougall

All you have to do is feed a fistful of corn to, say, a floppy-eared Nubian, and you’ll soon realize that just about everything you ever wanted from a dog, you get from a goat. Goats are affectionate, gentle, and playful. They run and jump and play, but don’t bite, bark, or fight. Goats won’t bother your cats or attack the mailman, and they’ll do you a solid and clean out all the poison ivy and ragweed you’ve been meaning to pull.

Historically, donkeys lead and owners follow. Donkeys like to be in front, because their No. 1 survival instinct is to scan the world ahead and make their own decisions, step by step, about where to place each hoof. That’s one reason mountain men and other wilderness wanderers out there in the crazy places love donkeys so much; you might get drowsy, your horse might blindly follow orders, but donkeys are super-vigilant and will slam on the brakes, hard, whenever a patch of trail seems sketchy or a harmless-looking stick turns out to be a rattler.

Donkeys operate on one frequency—trust. They do nothing on faith, but everything on certainty. They can be dying of thirst, but if they’re not sure about the water, they won’t touch it. If the hay smells iffy, they’ll go hungry. And if you’re not covering their flanks, they’ll do it themselves.

Distance and envy are two poisons that can destroy any community, and that’s why the Amish have a problem with cars, fashion, and even electricity: they let you travel too far, show off too much, and stare at screens instead of faces.

Patience and kindness don’t show up on demand; they’re disciplines that require constant practice, and there is no better boot camp for learning those skills than hitching your survival to your ability to discern—and respect—the needs of another creature.

If you’ve ever heard a donkey bray, you never again have to wonder what the souls of the damned twisting on the pitchforks of eternal torment sound like.

If you bring forth what is within you, what you bring forth will save you. If you do not bring forth what is within you, what you do not bring forth will destroy you. —Gnostic Gospel of St. Thomas