Once upon a time there was a little mouse. The mouse had a mutation. Instead of one tail, he had, not two, not three, but four tails. One day the mouse went to a playground, where children were playing. He felt quite brave so he ran up to them. When the children saw the little mouse with the four tails, they started to laugh at him and mock him. Why? Because once somebody looks a little bit different to what we are accustomed, the typical person might laugh at them. On social media, we see the memes that are created when people make a mistake. The children said, “Look at that funny mouse with four tails. Ha ha ha.” They started to laugh at him. How do you think the little mouse felt? The little mouse was very hurt.
On the next day he decided to go to the playground again. Before going, he thought to himself, “These children are laughing at my four tails because I’m a little bit different. But I want to fit in with the group. I want to be just like them. I’m going to cut off one of my tails.” Whoosh. He cut off one tail and three tails remained. He went back to the playground with confidence that everything would be better. But, three tails are still different from one tail and the children laughed at him again. They said, “Look at this mouse! He has three tails!” He went back home, ashamed, and cut off another tail.
He returned to the playground the next day with two tails. They laughed at him again. The mouse felt badly and went home and cut off another tail. He was left with one tail. “Yes,” he thought, “I look like an ordinary mouse with one tail.” He went back to the playground with the children. However, he didn’t realise that his last tail looked unusual. The children still laughed at his tail. He returned home and decided to cut off the remaining tail so that nobody would laugh at him. He ran outside around the children and what do you think happened? They laughed at him again. “Look, a mouse with no tail. Look how funny he is. Ha ha ha.” The mouse went away dejected. He was sorry that he had cut off all his tails.
The moral of this story is that we cannot be happy if we let others take away our peace. If we live our lives depending on what others say, what they think or what they do, then we are always going to be unhappy. If we only try to please people, and do what they want, then we will never be happy because their opinion always changes. Even our own opinions and ideas change. In a world that’s always changing our opinions and attitudes, who are we really trying to please?
This is related to peer pressure in school. Parents may bring their children to temple to nurture certain spiritual values. They may not wish to give their children mobile phones because of the possible dangers of digital technology. The exposure to so much information at their fingertips, without any sense of responsibility, is a recipe for disaster. However, the children go to school and they are pressured to have a phone. There is pressure for them to conform.
We might wish to fit in even though we have our own values. We must have that strength within us not to care what other people think; to know that we are doing the right thing. If you are able to extract the principle of what you are doing then it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. First of all, it means having a good sense of self worth and value. We know what is right, what is good, and if we’re not sure, we listen to our parents or Guru, read the scriptures and finally, listen to the inner Guru or conscience. At the end of the day, always ask, am I doing what is right? The moral of the story: don’t try to change to fit in with the crowd. Stand up for your own values and identity and don’t worry about what anyone else says.
