Our relationships with animals reveal us — what we find worthy of care, what we consider below notice, what kinship we are willing to extend beyond our own species. Nasreddin's relationship with his donkey is one of the great animal-human relationships in world literature: affectionate, adversarial, mutually exasperating, and fundamentally honest. What you believe an animal is worth tells you a great deal about what you believe you are worth.
Each step builds on the last.