As you might know, just as a group of fish is called a school and just as a group of geese is called a gaggle, a group of frogs is called an army.
One day, an army of twenty-two frogs was hoping through the woods. Two of the frogs were younger than the rest of the army, and this was the first time they had been allowed to travel along with the more senior frogs.
Suddenly, the unthinkable happened!
Possibly because they were not as familiar with the surrounding area, the two young frogs fell into a deep hole.
As the army watched in horror, the two frogs tried desperately to jump out of the hole… but the hole was too deep. Even worse, each attempt they made to escape their fate came with injury and pain, as they repeatedly hit rocks and roots along the wall of the hole as they tried, in vain, to jump out of it.
The leader shouted at them to stop!
“Stop jumping,” he said. “The hole is too deep! You’re only making it worse! You should accept your fate; sit at the bottom of the hole and wait. Either you will die peacefully or, with luck, a heavy rain will fill the hole with water and you’ll be able to float to the top and swim out.”
One of the young frogs did as he was told, but the other continued his efforts to leap out of the hole, his head and face becoming more and more bruised and bloodied with each attempt due to “hitting the wall.”
Soon all of the frogs joined the leader in shouting for the young frog to stop! But it seemed the more they yelled for him to stop, the more determined he became.
Suddenly, with a mighty leap, the young frog jumped out of the hole!
The army was stunned…
With a perplexed look, the leader said, “We are happy you were able to free yourself from such a terrible situation… but why did you continue to jump when we were all screaming and telling you to stop?”
At first, the young frog seemed confused or surprised by this question. Then, with an understanding smile, he said, “Oh, is that what you were all screaming about? I’m a little bit hard-of-hearing and I thought you were cheering me on!!”
A good example of how encouragement can motivate people to go above and beyond!