Once upon a time in a little hut in a farming community far away, there was a farmer and his wife. This farmer kept a cow, a pig and a chicken in their barn.

After a while, a mouse joined the barn, and was always sneaking out into the farmer’s house. On one such occasion, the mouse heard a conversation that was tormenting. The farmer’s wife had decided to buy a mouse trap to eliminate the mouse. The mouse could not believe its ears. It rushed back quickly to the barn to share the news and get help.

The mouse told the cow, pig and chicken one after the other, and one after the other they brushed the mouse aside. The cow wondered how it would worry about a mouse trap, the pig was irritated and the chicken would hear none of it. The mouse was left to fend for itself.

Late that night, the rat trap snapped, the farmer’s wife rushed to it with excitement, and got bitten by a snake that the trap had caught. The farmer’s wife became terribly ill. The farmer’s friends told the farmer that a good cure for snake poison is chicken pepper soup; the farmer had no hesitation in preparing the chicken. The situation however worsened, and friends and family kept on visiting, to entertain them, the farmer killed the pig! Things gradually deteriorated, and the farmer’s wife died. The farmer had to bury his wife, and arranged for the cows slaughter!

The animals ended up all dead, while the mouse lived on happily ever after!
Lessons:
1. we will suffer collectively for small problems we refused to address because we assumed it wasn’t our problem.
2. When you hear “carry”, join them and carry, lest it’s carried into your backyard.
3. Don’t trivialize any problem.
5. Financial Mouse traps –  Not having an escrow account.
6. National Mouse traps – Boko Haram, Flooding, Corruption, etc
Don’t say it doesn’t concern you, don’t be a chicken, pig or cow, get involved.