21 November 2013
The Mouse
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!"
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 goat and told him "There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a
mousetrap in the house!" The goat sympathized, but said, "I am so very
sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it. "
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. But wish you well; be assured you are
in my prayers "
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 goat. 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 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 because directly or indirectly we might have to suffer!!!
The important things in life
A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the
table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a
very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks,
about 2 inches in diameter.
He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.
So
the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles, of course, rolled into the
open areas between the rocks.
He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.
The
professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of
course, the sand filled up the remaining open areas of the jar.
He then asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous “Yes.”
“Now,”
said the professor, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents
your life. The rocks are the important things – your family, your
partner, your health, your children – things that if everything else was
lost and only they remained, your life would still be full. The pebbles
are the other things that matter – like your job, your house, your car.
The sand is everything else, the small stuff.”
“If you put the
sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the
pebbles or the rocks. The same goes for your life. If you spend all your
time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the
things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are
critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take your partner
out dancing. There will always be time to go to work, clean the house,
give a dinner party, or fix the disposal.”
“Take care of the rocks first – the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.”
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