Frogs

The parable of the

FROGS in the Pit

Sometimes even the best intentioned friends can become your worst enemy.

By Roy D. Follendore III

A long time before man knew how to speak, a band of frogs were traveling through the woods croaking for females that lived in a nearby pond, when two of them fell into a deep pit. All the other frogs gathered around the pit. When they looked over the edge and saw how deep the pit was, they told the unfortunate frogs they would never get out. The two frogs ignored all of the comments and tried to jump up and out of the pit.

The other frogs kept screaming at them to stop, because they were as good as dead. Finally, one of the frogs took heed to what the other frogs were saying and simply gave up. He fell down and simply died peacefully.

But the other frog continued to jump as hard as he could. Once again, the crowd of frogs yelled at him to stop the pain and suffering and just relax and die. At this instead, he jumped even harder... and finally made it out.

When he got out, the other frogs shouted at him, "Why did you continue jumping? We were your friends looking out for your interest. Didn't you hear us? We were trying to help you!"

At first the frog could not tell why they looked so upset. The frog then patiently explained to them that he was hard of hearing, almost deaf.

"You were my friends and for that reason I thought you were encouraging me to survive so that I might find the pond!" said the surviving frog hopping on his way leaving the others to their fate. He went on that day to find all of the females in their pond who were delighted to share their genes with such a strong example of an amphibian, even if he could not hear too well.

This story teaches us several important lessons:

There is great power in the tongue and its path to the mind. In the face of an obstacle in life, a few discouraging words can become the cause failure. On the other hand, a few encouraging words to someone who is down, can lift them up and help them make it through the day. While it is true that you can also fail your friends by saying nothing, speaking with best of intentions is not enough. Perspective depends on your position when you view the situation. Even friends with the best of intentions, can speak words that rob another of the spirit to prevail in difficult times. When distracted by events, it is far too easy to forget that communication is not easy.