The Parable of the Rats

The Parable Of The Rats

Once upon a time, a village got infested with rats so bad, that the farmfolk couldn't take it anymore. So they began a massive campaign to drive or kill all the rats in the village. They were quite successful and happy with their accomplishment. Then, an old man in the village said, "You are happy now, but unless you try to find out why the rats became aplenty, your happiness will be short lived." But the people were so enamored with their accomplishment of driving out the rats, that they generally ignored the wise man's words, thinking that such a thing couldn’t happen again.

So, as before, the villagers went about their usual ways. They didn't clean up their yards and kitchens well, they didn't store their grain properly, and they didn't repair their dilapidated sewage system. Soon, as you would expect, a few rats appeared here and there, but the villagers were still so proud of their accomplishment that they said, "Meh, that's just a few rats, nothing will come out of that. We'll get rid of them soon." and went about their usual ways.

And as you'd come to expect, the villagers did nothing to clean up their surroundings, which soon became putrid and rotten. And once again, the village became more and more ideal for rats to hide and feed on. So one day, people suddenly realized, that the rats were back. And this time around, the rats (being cunning mammals) directly attacked the village’s granary. The villagers, out of sheer panic, decided to use fire to drive out the rats, and in the ensuing chaos, one farmer accidentally dropped his torch and set the entire village grain storage aflame. Many people got injured and some even died, trying to put out the fire. The next day, the aftermath of the incident clearly showed that the villagers had to move out of the area, for the entire winter supply of grain was burned to a crisp and the villagers would starve. In their panic to eradicate the rats, they themselves caused the more rapid demise of their village. But their fault was much, much more than that--the fact that they allowed the rats to come back, and even made a HAVEN for them to stay and flourish, was the greatest sin of the people.