We had a team of mules named Jack and Kate on our farm. Kate would often get stubborn and lie down on me when I was plowing. I couldn’t get her up no matter how roughly I treated her. Dad would see my predicament and walk across the field until he was close enough to say “Kate.” Then she’d get up and start working again. He never touched her in anger.
It took me a long time to understand that even a stubborn mule responds to gentleness.
I remember a young man whipping a short-tempered team of horses, trying to get them to come out of a gravel pit. They were pulling against each other, jumping back and forth, fretting and stomping. By talking to each of them and patting them, he quieted them down. Then he went behind them and took the reins, let go, and they immediately pulled out together. His gentleness made all the difference.
--- By John Wooden
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