The mouse was unhappy.
He worked for an elephant, and that elephant was much bigger and more powerful than the tiny mouse.
Sometimes the mouse spoke up about things he disagreed with, but his voice was so quiet that the elephant hardly ever heard.
Sometimes he just didn’t speak at all, because what’s the point if the elephant doesn’t hear.
So he went to the pub, and bitched and complained about the elephant with all the other mice.
One day, another mouse overheard his inebriated bitching and offered a solution, for this mouse was a union organiser.
“I have my own elephant”, said the union organiser. “If you and all your other mouse friends agree to pay me every month, then I’ll make my union elephant fight your employer elephant and you will finally get heard”.
The unhappy mouse thought this was a wonderful idea, so he set about convincing all the other mice to pay for the union elephant.
The mice were overjoyed at having an elephant to fight for them, and soon they felt like there was a balance of power. They no longer felt threatened and dominated by the employer elephant.
So the mouse thanked the union organizer and said he would contact the union organizer if they ever needed help again.
But the union organizer liked being paid every month, and wanted to be paid even more. He saw no value in stopping the fight until every mouse in the land was paying him every single month, for ever.
The mouse, who once had a very tiny voice, now had no voice at all. Because as loud as he shouted he could not be heard over the sound of the fighting elephants.
He was also unhappier than ever, because the elephants were too busy fighting each other that they weren’t paying attention to the mice. Some of the his mice friends got squished as the elephants fought, and the mouse wondered if he might get squished next.
So if you’re an elephant, always make an effort to listen to your mice. If you’re a mouse, find an elephant that makes an effort to listen to you.
But don’t hire an elephant to fight an elephant. Because both elephants have their own agendas, and you’ll just be a little mouse in a room with 2 angry elephants and a good chance you’ll get crushed by one or both of them.