A mouse once found its way into a rat hole. Oblivious to the animosity of the rats that lived there (perhaps thinking that they are so much like him, since they essentially looked similar to him), he decided to partake of a small nibble of cheese from a pile in the corner. The rats just stared at the little mouse as he ate a little.

He thought he was indeed welcome in this company of other rodents thus he decided to ask, “Is it possible for me to taka a little to my children at home?”

“Take as much as you wish,” they obliged him.

As he was about to leave the entrance of the rat hole though, he heard them whisper to each other, “Who does he think he is, this lost mouse taking his fill amongst a company of rats?”

It was only then that he realized that he was never welcomed in the first place.

Moral of the story: Tongues only wag when the unwelcomed guest leaves.

Sometimes, the only way for you to find out how people really think about you is to be away for awhile. For sure, you will be the one talked about. That’s why at times, one is tempted to be the last one to leave the party so one hears all the grisly details about those who left first.

Maybe, there was another reason for me to have been given the chance to have that one-day-away break from the hospital. I finally found out the very same thing I had been long suspecting the whole time. There are people who loathe me. And now, I try to remember one of the last things the Father (Bishop Javier Echevarria, the Prelate of Opus Dei) told us before he left the get-together yesterday,”… not to keep grudges or resentments.” It’s hard and I will be lying if I say that I am not holding back my tears, but I will have to give it a try, with a sincere smile on my lips.