Squished Frog

Some days ago I spotted a dead frog lying on the road. It was a dusty shaded green and the tyres of numerous cars and motorcycles passing over it had nearly camouflaged it with the asphalt.

It was quite disgusting to look at yet I bent low for a closer look. The frog was lying face down with legs splayed out in the same posture as when the car responsible for its death had hit. The once pink tongue was poking out from its pointed mouth, greyed by the passing time and blowing dust.

Reading its story was quite easy since most of us have felt the same at some time or other in our lives: coming into the world, cared for by mama and sometimes baba, then thrown out mercilessly into the world to fend for ourselves. We have all felt happiness, seen the good things, and then experienced them being snatched away from us in a whiff. No mercy shown by fate. All the pieces on the chessboard of life's game tossed away with a rough motion of the hand without a thought. We have experienced the goodness of life, and then suddenly been thrown off our very kilter.

We always knew what happened was bound to sooner or later, yet we didn't fathom the day would come so soon. When what we feared most would finally come true. Our very worst nightmare staring us right in the face. And back in middle school we thought RL Stein's Goosebumps series gave us the real shivers!

For the frog, being run over and dying so unexpectedly was the ultimate nightmare. But for us humans, numerous nightmares come before the final blow: death. Things you were trying to overlook in the hope they would go away despite reality finally hit you. Hard. Directly on the face. Not a slap, a pinch, or a punch. They hit like a hammer blow and send you reeling back in absolute shock.

And leave you feeling like the squished frog.