A group of frogs were leaping through the woods one day and two fell into a deep pit. The two fallen frogs then tried to jump out of the pit but it was too deep and they could not make it despite several attempts.
All the other frogs gathered around the pit and looked down into the hole. They saw how deep the pit was and believed that it was not possible for any frog to jump that high.
"Just give it up. It is too deep. You are as good as dead!" They shouted at the two frogs repeatedly. They kept on telling the two to stop and accept their fate.
After failing to leap out of the pit after so many attempts and hearing what the others were saying, one of the frogs finally heeded the advice of the other frogs and gave up. It then died in the pit.
The other fallen frog, on the other hand, continued jumping harder and harder. At the end, it finally managed to leap out of the deep pit successfully. When he was out of the pit, all the other frogs asked him, "Why did you keep on jumping despite us telling you to stop?"
It turned out that this frog was deaf and thought that all the other frogs were cheering for him and encouraging him the entire time!
Moral of the story: There is power in our words, and often it can be the power of life and death in our tongue. Words of encouragement to people who are down can lift them up and even be the force to help them through the difficulties, whereas destructive words may be the last draw that kills a person.
Here's a nice little clip of a variation to this story I found on the Web: The Little Frog.
Labels: story
