The Slow Boil: A History Lesson Repeated

The Slow Boil: A History Lesson Repeated

You’ve probably heard the story about the frogs in boiling water. In case you haven’t, let me introduce you to the parable.

There’s a frog that needs boiled. Don’t ask me why the frog is in need of boiling — that’s beside the point.

In order to boil the frog, you first need to put the live frog into lukewarm water. Once the frog feels nice and cozy, you slowly turn the heat up higher and higher. 

Before you, and especially before the frog, know it, the tailless green creature is being boiled. The frog is also now completely dead and being prepared for the next stage of…whatever it is that you plan to do with a boiled frog. 

The moral of this parable is that the frog never realizes the danger it is in until it is too late. While it started out as comfortable and cozy, it slowly faded into hot, boiling danger. 

The moment the frog realizes that he or she is in crisis, it is already past the point of doing anything about it. The end is inevitable.

THE MIDNIGHT RIDER

There’s an important character who often gets left out of the boiling frog story — or at least my extended version of the story. It’s a character who is a real life symbol and a personification of the hero who often is viewed as the villain. 

Imagine for me another frog in this story. This frog, we’ll refer to him as Pepe, is a modern day Paul Revere. 

Pepe sees his buddies in a big pot about to be boiled alive. He comes onto the scene after the lukewarm stage, but before the water starts to get scalding. 

Pepe first attempts to talk sense to his comrades. 

“Hey fellow amphibians, you realize you’re all in a pot of water…on the stove…with the burner turned on…while the temperature is slowly rising...heading toward your own death.”

“Quiet down, doomsdayer!” yells one of the frogs. “We’re all in this together! They said everything will go back to normal in two weeks.”

Another frog joins in, “Enough with your baseless conspiracy theories! This place is nice and homely!”

Pepe shook his head in disbelief. How can these frogs not see what is coming? Have they not heard the stories from when this exact same thing happened in another kitchen in history? It wasn’t that long ago that millions of frogs were boiled to death just across the pond. 

”These guys just don’t get that they’re headed for the same outcome,” Pepe thought to himself.

“The comfortable, lukewarm water is blinding them from what’s just around the corner.”

Pepe can’t sit idly by and do nothing. He realizes that he can no longer tell the frogs, he must show them. Pepe hops over to the oven and cranks up the heat on the burner. 

At this, all the frogs in the pot begin to scream and shout. First they shout because of the heat they’re feeling. Then they turn their anger and frustration onto Pepe.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND!?, yells one of the frogs.

All together the frogs begin to lash out at Pepe and call him a monster and a madfrog. They just can’t see that Pepe isn’t wanting to harm them. While they feel some pain and discomfort now, he’s really just trying to save their life.

Pepe knows that he won’t be able to help all the frogs wake up and smell the fruit flies. 4-6% of the frogs were too comfortable in the lukewarm water and they’ll just deny reality until they eventually meet their maker. 

But there’s still a ton of frogs who don’t like getting burnt enough to actually jump out of the pot. Those frogs will join Pepe on the counter and begin to help others see the light before it’s too late. Only when the frogs decide to jump out of the water will they truly see the danger they used to be in.

OPERATION WARP SPEED

I don’t think I have to go into a lot of detail to explain how my version of the boiling frog story applies to real life. There are so many people headed toward a certain dangerous ending. Sometimes this ending winds up effecting everyone. 

In my version of the story, the frogs who jumped out of the boiling water were saved. And that can happen in real life.

But there’s another scenario in real life where every frog will head to the certain danger — that is, unless there’s enough frogs who make that faith jump out of the boiling water. 

We’re living in a time where there most definitely is danger ahead. Most of us can see the crazy all around us. Those of us who are like the frogs outside of the pot of boiling water have one of two choices.

Choice #1: You see the frogs starting to boil on the stove, but you just keep on jumping down the counter. What’s the point in saying anything? I don’t want to judge anyone or tell other frogs how to live their life. Those frogs already know my opinion, I’m not going to change their mind. I’m afraid that if I say something, I’ll offend all of my frog friends. At this point, what difference does it make?

Choice #2: You see the frogs starting to boil on the stove, and you try to wake as many of them up as possible. You speak the truth to them, but you do it in love. You know the end is near, the water is almost to a boil, so you must move at WARP SPEED!

HERO OR VILLAIN 

One of the saddest tragedies in this whole story is who is portrayed as the hero and who is portrayed as the villain. Oftentimes the frogs who pick choice #1 are viewed as the heroes. Choice #2 frogs are usually viewed as the villains. 

When you turn up the heat in someone’s pot, you’re not always going to be viewed as the good guy upfront. 

For those who remain in the pot, you look like YOU are the murderer. In actuality, you’re turning up the heat before the slow boil can set in. You’re giving the frogs the opportunity to see past the narrative.

While the frogs in the pot are viewing the frogs on the counter as bad guys, it’s distracting them from seeing the real villain of the story. The real enemy rarely gets discussed or noticed.

The real villain— the real enemy— is not the frog in the boiling water or the frog on the counter. The real enemy is the one(s) who put the frogs in the lukewarm water in the pot on the stove. 

The real enemy is the one(s) who trapped the frogs and brought them into the house in the first place. 

The real enemy hates the frog in the pot AND the frog on the counter.