Once upon a time there was this little frog. Now this frog had something he wanted to tell ALL the other frogs in the pond.

So each day he would jump up on this lily pad and croak out his story for all the world to hear. And each day all the other frogs seemed to be ignoring him. But that didn't daunt our little frog, no sirree, he was determined. So he continued every day for weeks and then months, he'd hop up on his lily pad, clear his little froggy throat and pour his little heart out.

Well, as so often happens, our little frog grew tired of not being heard, so he stopped climbing up on his little lily pad. Days turned to weeks and the other frogs began to notice the "absence" of the little frog.

And soon questions were being asked around the pond,

"Where is the little guy who talked to us each day. I miss him".....

."He provided a little insight into my otherwise boring existance"........

"He managed to get my mind off my own troubles."...

"He made me smile lots of times when I thought I had nothing to smile about"...

But during all this, our little guy was sitting at the bottom of the pond, covered in mud, feeling sad and unwanted.

Well, one day, after several weeks, our little guy grew tired of sitting there and slowly began to surface, and the closer to the surface he got, the more he was able to hear the other frogs asking about him. Oh, how his heart began to sing!!!

But alas, the poor little fellow was covered with so much mud, he was getting weaker and weaker and soon realized he was in trouble. He slowly began to sink.

But as fate would have it, one of the frogs saw him sinking and immediately rang the alarm (OF COURSE there are frog alarms in ALL ponds!!), and all the frogs immediately dove into the water, grabbing the little guy and bringing him to the surface. They washed the mud off him, fed him a meal of the most delectable flies and gnats they could find, and then sat him on his lily pad in the middle of the pond.

Our little guy was so happy and felt so loved and needed, and he immediately began to tell his story again!!!!

And slowly, the other frogs drifted away, going about their own froggy business.

BUT this time something was different, our little frog did not give up. He realized that he WAS important to the (big picture) pond and that each time he said something....

someone was listening.....

someone was caring.......

someone was cheering him on.........

someone was able to smile........

someone was able to go on for another day

and each of his froggy friends needed him as much as he needed them.