In April 2006, the Reuters news organization reported that a textbook used at schools in the Indian state of Rajasthan compared housewives to donkeys, and suggested that the animals make better companions as they complain less and are more loyal to their “masters.”
The Hindi-language primer meant for 14-year-olds said, “A donkey is like a housewife … In fact, the donkey is a shade better, for while the housewife may sometimes complain and walk off to her parents’ home, you’ll never catch the donkey being disloyal to his master”.
OK, let me get this straight. Apparently, Adam made a mistake in the garden of Eden. When God brought all of the animals for him to name, we’re told that Adam “found no helper who was right for him.” (Gen. 2:20, GOD’S WORD). How in the world could he have overlooked the donkey? When Adam saw that animal, why did he not say, “THAT’S what I want as a companion! That’s what I want to spend my life with — I want to talk to, laugh with, walk on the beach at sunrise with, share candlelit meals with, and dance in the rain with a donkey!”? So, because of Adam’s incompetence, God was forced to create a woman. And now, we come to find out that it all could have been avoided if only Adam had read this textbook in New Delhi!
I do hope you realize the above paragraph was written with tongue planted firmly in cheek. I’m not ready for a moment to trade my wife of 36 years in on a donkey (though there might be times in our marriage when she felt like SHE was married to one!). I’m thankful that God in His infinite wisdom knew what he was doing when he created Eve. I’m thankful for the PERFECT companion — physically, emotionally, intellectually, recreationally.
I encourage those of you who are husbands to offer a special prayer of thanks this day for the wife God has given you. And, to use the words of Solomon:
“May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth.” (Proverbs 5:18)
Alan Smith
