~ J. Donald Walters
Do you ever get frustrated when people just can’t see all the stress you are under? Do you ever feel alienated because “they just don’t get it”? What about looking at this coin from the other side; do your friends and co-workers sometimes come to you with their problems? You’d like to help them out, but it just doesn’t concern you. Maybe you just don’t want to get involved. Perhaps you don’t want to cross a boundary. Maybe, just maybe, we don’t understand that our failures to get involved in other’s problems can come back to bite us in the end.
I heard this great story the other day that illustrates just why you might want to think a little harder about getting involved with someone when they turn to you with a concern or look to you for advice in a troubling time. Perhaps, being involved just may be the thing you both need and it might lead to positive outcome for the both of you. Here’s the story…
“One sunny morning something caught the mouse’s eye through a crack in the wall. It was a package the farmer’s wife was opening. The mouse wondered what kind of delicious food it might contain or what wonderful treasures might be inside. But, to his surprise it wasn’t food at all. Instead it was a mousetrap!
As the mouse scurried out to the yard he shouted a loud warning to all, ‘Watch out for the mousetrap in the house! Watch out for the mousetrap in the house!’
The chicken raised his head and said, ‘I can tell my friend that this causes you great worry, but it is of no worry to me. Please don’t bother me with it!’
The mouse then turned to the pig who said, ‘I’m Sorry Mr. Mouse, it has no consequence to me either.’
The mouse then turned to the bull who said, ‘Sounds like you have a real problem friend, but it really doesn’t concern me… sorry, but I will keep you in my thoughts and prayers.’
The mouse went back to the house to face the inevitable, alone. He felt down and dejected.
That night the sound of the trap was heard throughout the house – Snap! The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught, but couldn’t see in the darkness that it was a venomous snake and she was bitten!
After rushing his wife to the hospital, the farmer returned home with her. She had quite a fever. The farmer knew the best way to treat her fever was with chicken soup so he took his hatchet to the farmyard to get the main ingredient.
In the coming days, the wife grew sicker by the day and friends visited her around the clock. The farmer felt he had to feed them for being there for him and his wife in their time of need, so he slaughtered the pig.
Unfortunately the farmer’s wife didn’t get better and eventually died. There were many, many people who came to pay their final respects. The farmer had the cow butchered so he could feed them all after the service. “
Each animal on the farm cared for the mouse. But, in his time of need, none were concerned with the mouse’s predicament. As such, we as friends, family, coworkers and team members don’t always put each other’s needs and worries at the top of our lists. We may listen and show concern, but never really get to the heart of the other person’s anxiety. Sometimes, what doesn’t concern you, comes back to bite you in a big way.
I encourage you to be intimately involved with those you work with, associate with and socialize with. It’s not always fun. It’s certainly not easy and sometimes you have to share a few tears with them, but in the end, you both will be better off for it.
Mississippi is known as one of the most generous compassionate states. We prove that time and time again when a crisis endangers our livelihoods. Years ago, in one of Marshall Ramsey’s cartoons, he captured it this way, “Mississippi: When things get bad, we get good”.
Let’s not wait until things get bad. Let’s all strive to make sure our relationships are “good” so that when things get bad, we can be even greater! I know that if we do, our community will be better off for it!
---
* This article was originally printed in the Sunday, October 27, 2013 issue
of The Chronicle's "Planting Seeds" column.
of The Chronicle's "Planting Seeds" column.
