A story
Another thread reminded me of a story. I heard this years ago when I was still drinking. I could not understand the story, much less why I was being told . The person telling me refused to explain its meaning. I puzzled over it for almost a day before I finally got it (no doubt also due to the fact that I'm more than a little thick headed). I believe the work of trying to understand the story made it more valuable.
For that reason I would ask that you not give up the answer for 24 hours from the time of this post. Some of you will understand it immediately. That's fine. Let those who don't puzzle over it. They are the ones it may help.
One day a mouse was walking down the road when it heard "Help! Please Help!
Looking around there was no one to be seen. And then after a moment "Please help, Please"
Still not seeing anyone the mouse moved in the direction of the voice. Soon he came to a large pothole. Peering over the edge he saw another mouse at the bottom, so he asked how he could help. The unfortunate mouse below was overjoyed to see him. He said that he could not jump quite high enough to grab the edge of the pothole and pull himself out. But he had an idea. He said that if the mouse on the road could jump into the pit, he could climb on his back and this would give him the extra distance he needed to grab the edge of the hole and pull himself out.
The mouse on the road thought about this for a moment, Then he said, "If I jump down in there with you, then I'll be stuck in the pit". The other mouse agreed. Having no other ideas of how to help, the mouse on the road wished the other one well and continued on his way.
After a few minutes the mouse that had been in the hole came running up behind the mouse on the road. Astonished the first mouse asked " how did you get out?? ". The mouse from the pit responded "a truck came along".