Today’s Thinking Out Loud reflection is on Aesop’s Fable, The Cat and the Mice. Aesop’s Fables is available for free download here.
The Fable
“There was once a house that was overrun with Mice. A Cat heard
of this, and said to herself, “That’s the place for me,” and off
she went and took up her quarters in the house, and caught the Mice
one by one and ate them. At last the Mice could stand it no longer,
and they determined to take to their holes and stay there. “That’s
awkward,” said the Cat to herself: “the only thing to do is to coax
them out by a trick.” So she considered a while, and then climbed
up the wall and let herself hang down by her hind legs from a peg,
and pretended to be dead. By and by a Mouse peeped out and saw the
Cat hanging there. “Aha!” it cried, “you’re very clever, madam, no
doubt: but you may turn yourself into a bag of meal hanging there,
if you like, yet you won’t catch us coming anywhere near you.”
Note: There are lots of slicks folks who want to take advantage of us. We get warned about scams coming through on emails or text messages. They may be a politician or someone we work with. We may not recognize it in the moment when someone is taking advantage of us. But we can learn from the experience and not be taken advantage of again. Experience can be a tough teacher. Anytime we refuse to be taken advantage of, we become stronger and wiser. We don’t have to be a victim. We are empowered people if we choose to be.