A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?”, the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover that it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning, “There’s a mousetrap in the house!”

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me and I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig, who sympathised but said, “I am very sorry, Mr Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow, who said, “Mr Mouse, I'm sorry for you, but it's no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer's mousetrap . . . alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house -- like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught and she was bitten many times.

The farmer rushed her to the hospital, and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup's main ingredient.

But his wife's sickness continued, so friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife did not get well and eventually she died. Many people came for her funeral and so the farmer slaughtered the cow to provide enough meat for them all.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness...


So, next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn't concern you, remember that when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another. Each of us is a vital thread in another person's tapestry; our lives are woven together for a reason...


My Grandmother used to tell a story to me:
A man broke his legs and got very upset and cursed the Universe for it.
That same week came the war and he couldn't go because he had broken legs,so he stayed home with his family.

Interesting,I never forgot that story.

Not to break the mood but wouldn't the pig & cow have gotten slaughtered sooner or later anyway?

yeah, they would have gotten slaughtered

but if you look at it in terms of people

our abbatoir is death itself

it will be inevitable that we ALL die as well

nevertheless, if someone has some illness ( whether it is psychological etc.)

then EVERYONE in their vicinity is somehow affected


it reminds me of the stories you hear concerning high school kids and bullies

and how no one seemingly cares about the kid being bullied and beat on ( or whatever... maybe just excluded)

then .... later on, the kid just opens fire on everyone

because his psychological illness got out of control

when, i think it could have been prevented if someone(s) intervened

maybve this is a really horrible example because it is like exonerating the kid from all responsibility but still.... i think it could have been prevented