The Rut

Abraham Lincoln used to tell a story about a frog that fell into a deep muddy wagon track. A couple of days later, he was still there. Frog friends found him and urged him to get out of his predicament. He made a few feeble efforts but remained mired in his rut.
For the next few days his friends encouraged him to try harder, but they finally gave up and went back to their pond.
The next day the frog was seen sunning himself contentedly along the shore of the pond.
"How did you get out of that rut" his friend asked.
"Well as you know," said the frog, "I couldn't. But then a wagon came along and I had to."

From: Leadership...with a human touch, January 9, 2001, Pages 11-12