<html xmlns:v="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:vml" xmlns:o="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" xmlns:w="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:word" xmlns:m="http://schemas.microsoft.com/office/2004/12/omml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40"><head><meta http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"><meta name=Generator content="Microsoft Word 14 (filtered medium)"><style><!--
/* Font Definitions */
@font-face
{font-family:Calibri;
panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;}
/* Style Definitions */
p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal
{margin:0in;
margin-bottom:.0001pt;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
a:link, span.MsoHyperlink
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:blue;
text-decoration:underline;}
a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed
{mso-style-priority:99;
color:purple;
text-decoration:underline;}
span.EmailStyle17
{mso-style-type:personal-compose;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:windowtext;}
span.apple-converted-space
{mso-style-name:apple-converted-space;}
.MsoChpDefault
{mso-style-type:export-only;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";}
@page WordSection1
{size:8.5in 11.0in;
margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;}
div.WordSection1
{page:WordSection1;}
--></style><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapedefaults v:ext="edit" spidmax="1026" />
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:shapelayout v:ext="edit">
<o:idmap v:ext="edit" data="1" />
</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";background:white'>I have never been known for being able to tell jokes – even old ones. This came to me as great absolution for always being told I care about too many things that don’t concern me. A friend who seems to understand, sent me this:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";background:white'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";background:white'>A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><span style='font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><br><span style='background:white'>“What food might this contain?” the mouse wondered. He was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap.</span><br><br><span style='background:white'>Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning:<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>“There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”</span><br><span style='background:white'>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.”</span><br><br><span style='background:white'>The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>Be assured you are in my prayers.”</span><br><br><span style='background:white'>The mouse turned to the cow and said, “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!”<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”</span><br><br><span style='background:white'>So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.</span><br><br><span style='background:white'>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.</span><br><br><span style='background:white'>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.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>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.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.</span><br><br><span style='background:white'>The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><br><span style='background:white'>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.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><br><span style='background:white'>Each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry, the web of life.</span></span><span style='font-size:18.0pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>