My then, history teacher who was a very good storyteller once shared a story of the three frogs. He said there were three boys who were playing next to the dam. They were playing stone skipping, an old game where you throw a stone and watch it bounce on top of the water a couple of times before sinking. 

It was really fun for them, they kept on playing, competing with each other about who threw it best, better than the rest. They were laughing without realizing there were frogs underneath the water, running around trying to save their lives from those stones that couldn't bounce on the water. 

Out of irritation and anger, one frog came out of the water and yelled at them, “Yhe Nina!! lento ikukudlala kuni, kukufa kuthi!!” 

They were shocked because they meant no harm to anyone or anything.

They were enjoying themselves, but they never thought what they were doing had a negative impact on other things. on anyone or anything. To them, it was all about throwing stones and watching them float on top of the water, but to the frogs it was a matter of survival.

We had a free period on the day because our teacher wasn’t around. As you can imagine the noise in the absence of an adult or a recognized leader in the class. Everybody was talking to their circle of friends as if they were telling the whole class. Remember, If I’m talking, the guy next to me is talking and that goes to other guys next to them, eventually we gonna struggle to hear each other, resulting in an increased tone, and that results in chaos.

The teacher in the next class was busy with the business of the day, but he couldn’t go on because of the noise we were making. Out of irritation, he came to reprimand us because the noise we were making was affecting his class which was writing a test at the time.

What was fun to us, wasn’t to his students because they needed all the silence they could get to be able to focus on their test.

After all, a lesson was learnt, do what makes you happy, but consider other people as well. It might be putting them in danger. Maybe you have a thing for high speed, perhaps you believe you still drive as good as you do when you're sober, even when you’re under the influence. Perhaps lighting that cigarette at any time of the day, anywhere is what you do, but take a moment and think about others, those you might be putting in danger, as harmless your action you think might be. Those little things you do with good intentions, might not appear that way to others.

I understand you can't please everyone, but at least try to those around you.

Go out there, do everything, make an impact, have fun, and do all you can to fulfill your dreams and expectations, but always take a moment to reflect. Look back to determine if your actions haven’t affected other people negatively. Look back to determine if you haven’t stepped on other people’s toes.

Mistakes will happen, but that shouldn’t be an often thing because a mistake repeated more than once is no longer a mistake.

“It's all about one day at a time”

Picture by Julia Volk on Unsplash.com