Lessons from this “Mouse in A Jar” Story
Ever heard of this story?
Have a read.
A mouse was put at the top of a jar. The jar was filled with grains.
The mouse was SO happy to have found so much food because he no longer needed to run around looking for food.
“I could finally live a happy life! No more work!”
After a few days of enjoying the grains, the mouse reached the bottom of the jar!
Now he’s trapped and couldn’t get out of it.
What happened next?
To survive, to simple LIVE, the mouse now had to totally depend on others, who would put grains in his jar.
The mouse might not get the grains he liked and he could not choose either. (His life soon ended when the “giving of grains” stopped)
…
Lessons learned:
1) Beware of short term pleasures/comfort. When we choose to stay in such comfort zone (and NOT find ways to work/generate income, etc.), it can lead to long-term “traps” or dependency (Getting benefits/help/support from the government/parents/in-laws, e.g.)
2) When we choose to NOT continually develop/sharpen our skills, we will lose potential opportunities. We can lose our choices, our freedom, our independence.
3) Nothing is free in life (except for God’s grace and gifts!).
If someone gives us “freebies”, there is most likely SOMETHING else that they’d expect from us (i.e. Not all freebies should be accepted)
4) Parents, do NOT spoil your children by:
– sparing your children from difficulties (“Oh, you poor thing, let the helper do it for you!”, “Don’t do it, you’ll fall and hurt yourself. Let me do it!”, “Let the driver carry your backpack for you.”)
– giving them everything that they want
– always giving them things without much wait/efforts (because they’ll grow up thinking that things should come easy in life, and a little hardship in life “later” can easily lead to frustration and depression)
…
What other lessons from this “Mouse in a Jar story” can you add to the list?
