by Ruchit Doshi
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’t tapestry; our lives are woven together for a reason. One of the best things to hold onto in this world is a FRIEND!!!
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Appendix:
1. The Incongruence of Man
How can a monster be so magnificent in all that he does?
When creating, masterpieces are born, timeless,
works of art, visions of design, ripped from Logos itself.
When he destroys he rivals Shiva and Kali, ending the existence,
of one and all, with only monuments to ever speak of regret.
How do we reconcile this creature, fearfully made,
fearfully led, fearfully cowering in its own darkness?
Seeking validation, finding none, like the fallen Morningstar
destroying to facilitate a semblance of power, of control
flailing against a universe where no control truly exists?
This is the madness, the dissonance, the incongruence of Man.
Forever seeking, never finding, never willing to understand
that what he seeks, he already has, all he must do is turn to another
and ask.
— John Nox
2. No Man is an Island
These famous words by John Donne were not originally written as a poem – the passage is taken from the 1624 Meditation 17, from Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and is prose. The words of the original passage are as follows:
John Donne
Meditation 17
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
“No man is an iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a
peece of the Continent, a part of the maine; if a clod
bee washed away by the Sea, Europe is the lesse, as well
as if a Promontorie were, as well as if a Mannor of thy
friends or of thine owne were; any mans death diminishes
me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore
never send to know for whom the bell
You can enjoy other famous literary poems at Famous Poems Online
3. Planet of the Apes
Despite the fact the movies were by today’s standards of science fiction less than perfect, there were occasional moments of terrible brilliance within them. This line, more than anything else in the movie, has never left me.
“Beware the beast man, for he is the devil’s pawn. Alone among God’s primates, he kills for sport, or lust or greed. Yes, he will murder his brother to possess his brother’s land. Let him not breed in great numbers, for he will make a desert of his home and yours. Shun him. Drive him back into his jungle lair: For he is the harbinger of death.”
The Twenty-third Scroll, Ninth Verse, “Planet Of The Apes”
This quote was found on Cool Quotes Collection.com.
4. Chinese Anti-terrorist Exercise
In this photo released by the official Xinhua news agency, members of China’s armed police demonstrate a rapid deployment during an anti-terrorist drill held in Jinan, east China, on Wednesday July 2, 2008, roughly one month ahead of the Beijing Olympic Games. (AP Photo/Xinhua/Fan Changguo)
A Matter of Scale 