Transforming Obstacles into Benefits
By Richard Stewart,Los Angeles, U.S.A. (Originally in English)
美国洛杉矶 理查德．史都华德（原文为英文）
A group of frogs was traveling through the woods and two of them
fell into a deep pit. Immediately, all the other frogs in the group
gathered around the pit and watched as the imprisoned frogs tried to
jump out. The frogs on top could see that the pit was very deep and it
looked as if there was no way out, so they started yelling at the two
frogs in the pit to give up. "The pit is too deep. You're as good as
dead," the chorus of frogs said. When the trapped frogs kept trying,
the crowd yelled louder, "Give up. You're as good as dead." After a
while, one of the exhausted frogs took heed to what the others were
saying, and fell down and died.
But amazingly, the second frog kept jumping as hard as she could
despite the negative remarks of those that kept yelling at her to
accept the inevitable and just die. Finally, with one valiant leap, she
made it out of the pit!
This amazing result occurred because the second frog was deaf and
unable to hear what the others had been saying. She thought they had
been cheering her on the entire time they were yelling! What she had
mistakenly perceived as encouragement inspired her to try harder and
succeed against all odds. And that made all the difference!
With a positive mindset, and being deaf to others' opinions, the
second frog made use of such negativity to overcome obstacles and reach
her goals by using it as encouragement, instead of being influenced by
others like the first frog, who failed to develop her potential to
strive for survival. Thus, when we surmount others' criticism, ridicule
or cynical comments, we can do anything we set our minds to, just as
the second frog did. But, if we are not deaf like this frog, who could
not be influenced by others due to a physical condition, we need the
Wisdom to guide us to the proper way, so as not to be blindly guided by
worldly opinion.
【中文译文】：
一群在旅途中的青蛙，行经一处树林时，其中两只不慎掉进了一个深坑里。其它的青蛙立即围拢过来，看着这两只受困的青蛙在努力地跳出来。在上面的青蛙看
得出来这个坑非常的深，而且似乎没有任何出口，因此，它们开始劝坑里的两只青蛙不要白费力气了，它们齐声叫着：「这个坑太深了，你们死定了！」当受困的青
蛙不断地想跳出来时，其它的青蛙却叫得更大声：「算了吧！你们是死定了！」过了一会儿，这两只精疲力竭的青蛙其中一只听到其它青蛙所说的话，它就倒下来死
了。
但是很令人讶异的，第二只青蛙对于那些一直要它听天由命、等待死神降临之类的否定说法完全置之不理，它还是不断地奋力想跳脱出来。最后，在一次勇敢的跳跃中，它成功地跳出了深坑！
这个很令人讶异的结局竟然是因为第二只青蛙是个聋子！它听不到别的青蛙所说的话，当那群青蛙齐声鼓噪时，它以为它们是在为它加油！它所感受到的是一种鼓励，激励它更努力地去尝试，最后，终于冲破重重困难，获致成功。这就是造成两只青蛙有着截然不同下场的原因。
跳出坑洞的那只青蛙由于耳聋听不到外在否定的看法和意见，再加上它凡事都能从肯定的方向去思考，因此能将环境中接受到的讯息转变为一种鼓励的力量，克服障
碍而达成目标。反观那只屈服于外在影响的青蛙，否定了自己求生的潜力，从而也断了唯一的生机。因此，只要我们能超越别人的批评或冷嘲热讽，就可以像在深坑
里的第二只青蛙一样，完成自己的理想。但是，我们不是聋子，不可能像第二只青蛙一样，完全不受他人的影响，所以我们需要靠智慧来引导我们走在正确的人生旅
途上，才不会盲目听从世人的看法和意见。
