A Fable

Mrs. Mouse was very excited when Mr. Mouse announced that the family would be moving to a village. She always enjoyed new places and couldn't wait to start making new friends. Before the family moved, Mrs. Mouse went to see Spider. Spider was very well-connected. Through his web, one that might be called "world wide," Spider was able to help Mrs. Mouse learn all about the new village. Before she even moved, Mrs. Mouse had written to some folks in the new village, the Foxes, and was excited to meet them.

When the Mouse family got to the new village, they were greeted by the Rats. The Rats seemed like a nice family. They were young, friendly, welcoming, and were friends of the Foxes. The Rats invited the Mouses to a meeting that the Foxes were hosting the next day. Of course, Mrs. Mouse was pleased that she was already making friends. Naturally, the Mouses would attend.

As it turned out, the Foxes hosted weekly meetings for their friends. Mr. Rabbit would lead everyone in singing songs. Mr. Fox would speak about issues he thought were important. Afterward, everyone would spend time together laughing, talking, and eating. To Mrs. Mouse, it seemed like a perfect group. She even started helping Mr. Rabbit with the music when he heard that she was a musician.

The Mouses became very close to the Rats, the Foxes, the Rabbits, and many others within the group. They spent time together outside of the weekly meetings and grew comfortable with each other, so comfortable that Mrs. Mouse was not surprised when Mrs. Goose approached her in the village square and began discussing her concerns with how the meetings were being run. As it turned out, Mrs. Goose did not like the way that Mr. Fox was running the meetings. She said she thought he did not really care about the others and was more interested in what his friends could give him than what he could do for them. In short, Mrs. Goose felt Mr. Fox was greedy and was telling anyone who would listen that he should not be leading the meetings.

Mrs. Mouse was stunned. She really liked Mr. Fox. During the days after her talk with Mrs. Goose, Mrs. Mouse searched her heart for what to do. Should she warn Mr. Fox that someone was slandering him, or should she say nothing?

When the day for the next meeting came and Mrs. Mouse saw Mr. Fox, she knew she had to speak up. She went to him and told him all that Mrs. Goose had said in the hope that the knowledge would allow him to protect himself. To Mrs. Mouse's surprise, Mr. Fox shared what he had been told with the entire group, Mrs. Goose included, omitting only the source of the information. Mrs. Mouse was further surprised to hear that many felt as Mrs. Goose did. People who had been friends began shouting at one another. It was a horrible scene. When it ended, half of the group had left and vowed never to return. Mr. Fox remained with the other half, as did Mrs. Mouse.

At first, those who stayed thought they would be better off without the ones who spoke out against their leader. They grew closer to one another and worked twice as hard to get new people to join the group and to raise enough money to meet the financial obligations of the group. Sadly, their efforts were not enough. It was no time at all before Mr. Fox, the same Mr. Fox over whom the original group had split, announced that he could not lead such a small, struggling group. There was a group in another village that he would be leading, a larger, more stable group. Everyone was shocked, but no one lost hope.

Mrs. Mouse, Mr. Rabbit, and the others continued to work hard to get new people to join and to raise money while also trying to find a new leader. Unfortunately, the group was just too small to make any of this happen. Little by little, hope died. Along with their hope, the group died. Mrs. Mouse and the others watched as everything fell apart. They were devastated, especially Mrs. Mouse. She knew in her heart that she started it all. Oh, she didn't mean to. She didn't want to start trouble. All she did was tell the truth. Sometimes the truth doesn't set us free.

Mrs. Mouse spent many years unable to forgive herself for what she had done. It had never crossed her mind that telling the truth and wanting only good could end so horribly. After the group disbanded, Mrs. Mouse could not bring herself to join another for a very long time. When she finally did, she applied what she had learned. She watched, listened, pondered. What she rarely did was speak up, for she knew that even the truth could do harm. Instead, she gave much thought to her words, knowing that the exact words that can help one can hurt another.

Who is this Mouse? Why, I am, of course. The "group" was the last church I belonged to before UCCLM, a church that had existed for nearly forty years before I found it. Thankfully, I learned that speaking up is not always the best thing to do, even when we feel like what we have to say should be heard. Sometimes, we need to listen. Afterall, we do have two ears and only one mouth. I'm sure that's for a very good reason.