My friend and extraordinary international legal marketer, Leigh Dance, described an event or rite of passage that occurs every year in Brussels (where Leigh lives) – the “passage des crapeaux.” Leigh noticed “big orange traffic signs at both ends of the huge forest saying that the main/only road across the forest west to east (about 2 miles long) would be closed due to the ‘passage des crapeaux.'” She didn’t know what it meant and “decided that ‘crapeaux’ must mean those big piles of gathered branches and stuff that the forest maintenance guys need to haul off in spring.”
On Sunday, Leigh and her family were motoring “in the convertible enjoying the arrival of Spring, hugging curves on the road across the forest,” when she asked her husband, Aldo, what it meant. “”Turns out ‘crapeaux’ means toads! It must be mating season or something for those toads, and they all cross the road and head up into the woods, presumably to find their very own cute princess (or princesses, I’m not up on toad ethics).”
“What amazed us is that a main city road, where lots and lots of cars commute to their offices in central Brussels and home every day, was closed for 48 hours so the frogs could go jumping.”
What can lawyers learn from this? Whether you are acting by instinct or intention, to get what you want and to reach your business development goals, you have to be well organized. And get the buy-in of those who can help you get it done.
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If you want more about frogs, Leigh also included the following poem from the Farmer’s Almanac.
Frogs
The storm broke, and it rained,
And water rose in the pool,
And frogs hopped into the gutter,
With their skins of yellow and green,
And just their eyes shining above the surface
Of the warm solution of slime.
At night, when fire flies trace
Light-lines between the trees and flowers
Exhaling perfume,
The frogs speak to each other
In rhythm. The sound is monstrous,
But their voices are filled with satisfaction.
In the city I pine for the country;
In the country I long for conversation—
Our happy croaking.
“Frogs” by Louis Simpson, from The Owner of the House. © BOA Editions, Ltd., 2003. Reprinted with permission.