A Tale of Two Frogs

I got this story over a 'teh tarik' at my apartment's cafe, coming from the mouth of a buddy cum mentor of mine. The story actually came from an Olson guy, a very successful man himself. Maybe I don't rephrase it exactly like the original version, as I put the story into my own style of story telling, but the main point is still the same. So the story goes like this:

Once upon a time, there were two cute little frogs jumping around nearby a village, playing and trying to find some food for themselves. As they were jumping and hopping happily, they accidentally jumped into a large can of milk. (to us human it is just a can, but to them it's like a huge barrel of course!) As they plunged in the can, they found out that the milk is so tasty, that they drank and drank as much as they could while swimming inside the can. They felt that they were so fortunate that day!


Finally, both of them became full and satisfied, and grew tired. So it was time to leave the can. However, when they tried to jump out, it was impossible. The milk was still so deep yet the opening was too high for them to jump out of the can. Maybe only a salmon could leap out from water that high, but not to these poor little frogs. They tried and tried and tried to leap out to their salvation, but to no avail. Finally both of them became so exhausted, and the first frog said:


"Darn it! We are doomed to die here! We're so dead!"
"Don't be silly!" said the second frog, "We must try again. We have to get out of here. We can't die here!"
"Oh, please! We've tried so many times already. All my legs are cramping. We're going to die in here....we are indeed!" the first frog wailed in dismay.
"Don't give-up, keep on trying my friend! Maybe miracles will happen. We never know. Let's keep on trying until we get out of this can." the second frog exclaimed stubbornly.


As stubborn as it was, the second frog kept on swimming and jumping - while its friend was trying its best to keep itself afloat because it never believed miracle could ever happen - but again, its effort was still useless. The given-up first frog said, weakly to its unstoppable, stubborn friend, "There goes your miracle...I can't stand it anymore. Goodbye dear friend. Let me die in here..." And with that final word, it sank and died at the bottom of the can, drowned in the pool of milk.


Looking at its dissapearing friend, the second frog kept on pedalling and jumping and kicking and swimming in the milk, every attempt to jump out was a failure. Finally, it also became frustrated and started to think, "Maybe there's no such thing as a miracle. Maybe my friend was right, we are doomed to die in here!"


So do you think that the frog will die like its friend?


As it was about to give-up its hope and let itself drown and die, it realised something weird. The milk had somehow became thicker and turned into yogurt! The constant kicking and pedalling had made the milk harderned over time, and it was then possible for the poor frog to jump out of the can and survive!


So fellas, are you now in a difficult situation? Or maybe not yet, but you will never know when 'shit' will happen to you. Once I was just like you, employed with a decent earning, and like you, I was very satisfied and feel secured with my life. But the company somehow stumbled into problems one after another, and now I am out of wages for more than two months. Do I cry and let myself and my family die in hunger? Am I just sitting around waiting for miracles to happen without doing anything? No I am not, and will not! Give-up is never in my dictionary of hard life. So will you! So, don't ever wait until 'shit' to happen, don't even wait for miracles to come in your life, just DO SOMETHING about it. Like NIKE says " JUST DO IT", and like my buddy always say, "DO IT BEFORE YOU NEED IT!"