The Crack in the Wall

Mahler’s Monday Morning Motivator # 232 – The Crack in the Wall

The Crack in the Wall (10-13-08)

Every once in a while I have the good fortune to find a little piece that has a message which defies my poor abilities to make any improvements and says something that I wish I had said, but in an interesting way. I stumbled across this little story some time ago and tucked it away, like a squirrel gathering nuts for the winter. While looking through my files for an idea, I happily rediscovered it. It has a great message, but please understand that I did not write it and, unfortunately, do not know the author who so richly deserves the credit. Nevertheless, I hope you will enjoy it.

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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,
and 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 to her side and helped her to bed.

Soon, she came down 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; and when she died,
so many people came for her funeral,
that 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.
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My friends; not one of us rides this big blue ball alone. We may not always have the means to help another financially or physically, which is so true of the internet. What we do have is the ability to offer our understanding, our advice, and our encouragement, so that our fellow passengers can feel the support they need to make it through whatever troubles they see leering at them through the crack in the wall.
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Copyright 2004-2008 John R. Gesselberty. Mahler's Monday Morning Motivators (MMMM) may not be copied or used without permission of the author. All rights reserved.