Friends

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do. And by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale

A mouse looked through a 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 a warning to all of his animal friends: "There is a mousetrap in the house! Do you hear me? There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The chicken clucked and scratched at the ground, and then she 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 exclaimed again, "There is a mousetrap in the house! Beware! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The pig sympathized with the mouse, but he said, "I am so very sorry, mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray..

be assured, dear mouse, you are in my prayers."

The mouse then turned to the cow and warned, "There is a mousetrap in the house! Listen to me! There is a mousetrap in the house!"

The cow said, "Wow, mouse. I feel very sorry for you, but it's certainly no skin off my nose."

So the mouse returned to the farmhouse with his head down and, feeling totally dejected, he faced the farmer's mousetrap . . . alone.

That very night, a loud sound was heard throughout the farmhouse. It was the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.

The farmer's wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she could not see. It was a venomous snake whose tail was caught in the trap. The snake bit the farmer's wife on the ankle. The farmer rushed her to the hospital, where she was treated for the snakebite.

When she returned home, she still had a fever. Well, 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, chicken. But his wife's sickness continued. Since all of their friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock, the farmer butchered the pig so he could feed them.

Alas, the farmer's wife did not get well and, after two weeks, she died. So many people came for her funeral that the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them for the funeral luncheon. The mouse looked upon it all from his tiny crack in the wall with great sadness.

The next time you hear someone is facing a problem and you think it doesn't concern you, remember --- when one of us is threatened, we're all at risk. We're all involved in this journey called life. We have to keep an eye out for each other and make an extra effort to encourage each other so we'll all know how important we are.

We're all a vital thread in each other's tapestry. Our lives are woven together for a reason. One of the best things to hold onto in this world is a friend.

God Bless America!