Are You a Leaper or a Croaker?

“It’s hard to beat a person who never gives up.”
Babe Ruth

“There is an old story that is told about an army of frogs that went leaping through the forest one day when two of the frogs suddenly fell into a deep pit. All of the other frogs gathered around the hole to look down on their two fallen comrades. They all began to sadly shake their heads and to croak out dismal warnings. "It's too deep!" croaked one frog. Another croaked that there was no way that they would ever be able to get out of that pit alive.

The two fallen frogs began to continuously jump as they tried to get out of the pit, but the frogs that were watching kept croaking louder at them that they might as well stop because they were as good as dead and just wasting their time. One of the two frogs finally gave up and heeded the pessimistic advice of the frogs at the top. He quit jumping and literally "croaked" and died.

The other frog just kept right on jumping and leaping harder than ever in spite of all the loud croaks of disapproval from the frogs that were watching around the top of the hole. They kept croaking shouts at him to quit jumping and save himself from all the pain and suffering he was incurring as he leaped and fell back down to the bottom of the pit over and over again.

Finally, he leaped even harder than ever and to the surprise of all the other frogs he jumped right out of the deep pit. The other frogs asked him, "Why did you keep leaping even though we yelled and croaked at you to stop?" It was then that the frog explained to them that he was deaf and he had thought they were cheering for him and yelling words of encouragement to him the entire time!”
Pamela Perry Blaine

There are many important lessons we can learn from this story, but I would like to point out three very quickly. First, our words are powerful and have the ability to uplift or destroy. Let’s be the kind of people that encourage and lift others up despite their supposed weakness and flaws—for we never know what they may be able to accomplish with encouragement.

Second, it is important to surround ourselves with supportive people in supportive environments. Whether we believe it or not, each of us is influenced by those who surround us and the environments we put ourselves in. We must actively seek to be surrounded by good and encouraging things in order to be our best.

Finally, as I wrote about last week, perseverance and never giving up despite the difficult circumstances we may be facing, will lead us to do amazing—sometimes seemingly impossible things. Especially during these challenging economic times, we must never give up. The choice is ours to always be a leaper or a croaker. Let’s be leapers!!