Here's QUEEN GERTRUDE, ready with her 'FROG-TALK' (...while humans go SIDEWAYS in '24).
FROG BOOK: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QML8BQN
(Excerpted from THE GREATEST SECOND-CHANCE FROG QUEEN).
In the later years, after the human race was saved from extinction, other wise frogs had asked the key questions. In frog-talks; where the greatest frog-minds had gathered, where they had dissected the decisions of their queen, it had become apparent that she had been smarter than basically any other frog (or human) that had ever lived.
What had she done? Well, to the amazement of writers, philosophers, scientists and architects, fellow politicians and artists of her generation, she had given the humans a "second chance."
Second chance meant that on their first try they had been wrong – horribly wrong about just about everything. And during those tenuous years when a first wrong decision could have obliterated every living thing on the planet, most frogs didn’t think handing down a second chance was a very good idea. Only the queen did. Queen Gertrude. Only she. One frog.
And not a large or very pretty one at that. The queen was an off-green, some said. She had a harsh croak, others mentioned. And she wasn’t the best ‘mixer,’ confided her sometimes frog-mate, explaining that she often said the opposite of what most frogs wanted to hear.
Frankly, how she ever reached the goal of turning the human-thing around was the greatest mystery of all. But she foresaw that (1) by giving their misguided leader enough rope, he would (2) sooner or later generate enough backlash to create a ‘teachable moment,’ through no fault of his own,
Still, how did the queen know that drowning him in power, giving him limitless gold/wealth and bully-pulpit – in short everything – would bring about the necessary changes? The frog-council had trouble with that one.
The queen relaxed back into her lily pad, took in a big gulp of air, then expelled it in her usual croaking fashion, and began to explain her philosophy about second-chances.
“You see, if there isn’t something great and grand to lose, then the human beings don't easily understand the difference between succeeding and failing. They keep track of success through something called money.
“And money translates into power. When a human has both of these elements, then he or she also gains prestige, which gives them ample opportunities to play out all the damage that occurred to them during childhood. Mainly, if there wasn’t enough love transferred to the child, he or she acts out this pain as an adult, hurting as many people as they possibly can. It’s just a matter of cause and effect.
OH, said the frog chorus, WE SEE. YES, added some others.
IT'S SO VERY CLEAR!
THANKS.
We frogs have been here on ‘your’ planet for around 10 million years. You humans have been around maybe 100,000 years, in a form you’d recognize (vaguely resembling your modern selves). OK, I'll give you existence of maybe 1 million, at least in some humanoid form. When I say a hundred-thousand I may be padding your number a bit, if I must also include members of your species that ran around on all fours, or were at least somewhat scrunched over when walking first on two feet. SO YOU HUMANS BETTER WISE UP SOON, OR YOU’LL END UP ON ALL FOURS AGAIN! Good luck to you small-&-big humans. You'll need it!
————-
(BOOK is Available on Martha’s Vineyard: <https://bunchofgrapes.indielite.org/book/9781006506789>).
————
“That may be the greatest book title ever! There's enough Frog Queen wisdom in this gem of a book to save the human race. Lucky for us, that's what the Frog Queen is up to. Lucky for readers, that's what the author is up to.”––Steve Gillard, “What Would Jeebus Do?: POEMS.”
———-
THE GREATEST SECOND-CHANCE FROG QUEEN: A Not-Just-4-Children FROG-TALK, by Rick Schmidt (Author) Format: Kindle Edition.
———-
Frog Queen - where will the change take us In spite of our self indeed.
A perfectly appropriate snap of what of what is playing out, what seems to always be playing out. Surely Gertrude was our first 'woke' ambassadress? No matter. But stories do. Thanks, Rick.