The Parable of The Mousetrap

With everything that’s happening in the world, I recently remembered a parable I came across a few years ago, and its impact on reminding me of the responsibility we have to each other. When one of us (near or far) is going through a hard time, and think it doesn’t concern us, in some way, it can touch us and affect our lives more than we think.

I’m sharing it because sometimes, a story is much more powerful in capturing our attention, and makes us understand ourselves and others better than any well-presented fact or argument.

Every night, Mr. Mouse squeezed his way through a small crack in the wall, looking for whatever food he might find, even the smallest crumbs that may have slid under a cabinet.

One night, he looked through the crack, and saw the farmer and his wife opening a package.

“What new food might I find tonight?” Mr. Mouse said, excited.

But, he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.

Heart pounding, Mr. Mouse ran out to the farmyard and cried out to his farm animal friends for help, “There’s a mousetrap in the house! 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 this is your problem and of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.”

Mr. Mouse scurried to the pig in desperation. “There’s a mousetrap in the house! There’s a mousetrap in the house!”

The pig sympathized, but said “I am so very sorry for your difficult and challenging situation Mr. Mouse, but there’s nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.”

Mr. Mouse turned to the cow, totally helpless.

“There’s a mousetrap in the house! There’s a mousetrap in the house! Please, help me!”

The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. That’s so awful. I’m sorry for you, but it doesn’t affect me. I wish you well and be careful.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to try and find some food so he wouldn’t starve, and face the farmer’s mousetrap alone in the darkness.

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 that the trap had caught a venomous snake’s tail. The snake bit her ankle. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, but was returned home with a fever.

Knowing that the best remedy for a fever is a hearty chicken soup, the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.

But his wife’s condition worsened. Family, 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 died. So many people came for her funeral, that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

Mr. Mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

You probably couldn’t help but notice (as I did) that on some level, Mr. Mouse’s plea wasn’t a very legitimate one. He had no business intruding inside the farmer’s house, right? And therefore, his intrusion was the main reason for his devastation in having to face the mousetrap. He didn’t see this. How could he? He was hungry. The only thing he knew, is that if he didn’t get food, he wouldn’t survive.

So, what if instead of turning a blind eye, his farm animal friends had tried to guide him through his adversity, and said, “Listen Mr. Mouse, we know you are hungry, but your presence in the house is causing a disturbance to the farmer and his wife. They are very frightened of you. By helping you with the mousetrap, we’d be causing more havoc in their lives. But we can show you a small field not too far from here, where you’ll always find food.”

Maybe this would have prevented the harm to the farmer’s wife, to themselves, and definitely alleviate Mr. Mouse’s problem.

A New World

Chances are that life may never fully go back to how it was before coronavirus, and a new world will be born.

We may not know exactly what that world will look like, but the way we behave and are of service to each other will have a significant impact on shaping our new world.

A world where feeling scared, lost and confused doesn’t have to be so much of a desperately lonely place to live in. Because we will have learned to share those feelings with each other, and know that we’d always have a hand to hold on to that’s holding ours back.
A world where we give soothing, comforting and invigorating energies with our presence, uplifting others and making them feel good about themselves.
A world where we freely encourage, motivate and inspire each other in bringing out our full potential and following our dreams without causing harm to anyone in the process.
A world where when we find ourselves in a position to help someone, we are filled with joy by being the instrument through which their prayers are answered.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers, and don’t know how realistic this even is. But I believe that experience and facing hard times are the best education in learning valuable life lessons. If we at least try putting the effort to use this time of crisis to strengthen our understanding of ourselves and for all of humanity; that regardless of our living conditions, we have all been touched by it—we all had plans, needs, responsibilities, and, we all have desires, fears and hopes—and support each other, even with a small act of kindness or service, then, we might step out into the new world better than before. One that we’ll create from what we’ll learn.

Isn’t it worth trying?

There’s no right or wrong answer. There’s only our own answer.

However, if we want to see a change happen, we must be a part of making that change happen.

I know this is a very hard time. For some, harder than others. But, as human beings, we have a tremendous strength and ability than we sometimes think, and are incredibly capable of overcoming the most difficult times when we put our whole mind and heart into it, even when they seem insurmountable. In the process, merely taking responsibility for our actions and how they may affect others (near and far), can make a huge difference in the world.

Only the seeds we sow today will determine the kind of fruit we will reap tomorrow.

Imagine the abundance of the sweetest fruit of compassion we’d all share and enjoy with each other, if we all commit to it together.

In the words of Gandhi,