Mouse Story...

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
it was a mousetrap.

Retreating to the farmyard,
the mouse
proclaimed the warning:

"There is a mousetrap
in the house!
There is 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.
I cannot be bothered by it."

The mouse turned to the pig and told him,
"There is a mousetrap
in the house!
There is a mousetrap
in the house!"

The pig sympathized,
but said,
"I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse,
but there is nothing
I can do about it but pray.
Be assured
you are in my prayers."

The mouse turned to the cow and said,
"There is a mousetrap
in the house!
There is a mousetrap
in the house!"

The cow said,
"Wow, 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.

The snake
bit the farmer's wife.
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 neighbors
came to sit with her
around the clock.
To feed them,
the farmer butchered the pig.

The farmer's wife
did not get well;
she died.
So many people came
for her funeral,
the farmer
had the cow slaughtered
to provide enough meat
for all of them.

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

So, the next time
you hear someone
is facing a problem
and think it doesn't
concern you,
remember --
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.

REMEMBER:
EACH OF US
IS A VITAL THREAD
IN ANOTHER PERSON'S TAPESTRY;
OUR LIVES
ARE WOVEN TOGETHER
FOR A REASON.

One of the best things
to hold onto in this world
is a friend.