Which type of frog are you?
I wrote this a month back. It seems more relevant to reflect on than ever…
Once upon a time, there were some frogs in a pan of water. They had been in the pan for many many years. And their ancestors had been in the pan for all of their lives too.
The water in the pan had always been about the same temperature. But slowly, and very very gradually it was rising. The water was getting warmer. It had become very clear that the Frog way of life had caused the pan to start heating up.
There were three groups of frogs. The Frogs in Power, comfortable Citizen Frogs and Activist Frogs. The Citizen frogs were comfortable in their current lives & they were busy. They had a really active social life enjoying their time with each other. So whilst they noticed the water getting warmer, and they were concerned about it, they were animals of habit and they didn’t seem to want to change.
The Frogs in Power controlled everything in the pan. Some of them were in the Frog government and others owned powerful Frog institutions. Frogs in Power historically hadn’t used their power well, so Citizen and Activist frogs didn’t trust them as far as they could throw them. And Frogs in Power tended to have motives that often seemed maligned.
The Activist Frogs were originally Citizen Frogs until they started to get really worried about the water temperature. They formed a movement of ‘concerned frogs’ because they could see that the Frogs in Power were too busy and not prioritising this main issue. The Activist Frogs had all sorts of compelling data about the speed of the heating of the pan. If it continued like this, then at some point Frog life would not be possible.
They started to campaign to raise awareness about the issue. But even though what the Activist Frogs croaked about made lots of sense, no one would really listen. Generally frogs’ hearing wasn’t that good. And the Citizen Frogs weren’t really prepared to make any changes anyway. As they sat on their lily pads, they seemed to be unconsciously ignoring the issue, perhaps because they were in a comfort zone living life the way they always had.
The Frogs in Power either couldn’t hear or didn’t want to hear. They certainly didn’t like activism. It got their spiny backs up and even though the issue was important one, frog psychology meant that they just clamped down harder. No-one actually really knew how the Frogs in Power were thinking because they didn’t share much, and they always needed to look like they were in control.
So when Activist Frogs protested, all the other frogs just got annoyed with them. Maybe this is why frogs in boiling water don’t jump out. :)
What made the Activist Frogs green with anger was that the Frogs in Power had the power to slow down the rising temperature, but they were only taking small jumps forward when they could be making huge frog leaps.
The Activist Frogs were a determined creative bunch. They thought, “we’re not dead until we’re boiled, so let’s keep going”. They had seen that even though they were very unpopular, the rising temperature was now being commonly discussed.
So that’s where we are now. We’re a bunch of frogs in a bloody big pan. And it’s starting to get hotter. Eventually, the water will become boiling and then all the frogs are going to panic and jump about. But let’s not worry about that bit for now. Let’s assume we’ve still got a chance to change it. We need more Activist Frogs to influence the Frogs in Power. One thing all the frogs know is that the Frogs in Power critically needed the support of all the other frogs.
An Activist Frog can mean many things. It’s not just about doing frog-illegal things. But it is about croaking about the issues as much as you can, telling Frogs in Power to change, and pulling their legs as much as possible. It’s also about making many changes to the way you jump about currently. Don’t do any jumps that makes the pan hotter.
The most important question is:
Will you be an Activist Frog or a comfortable Citizen Frog?
Let’s all be activists, so that the Frogs in Power start to do the best for every frog body. The last thing we wanted is to be fried or boiled frog’s legs. Let’s work together to reduce the frogging heat.
