Once upon a time a daughter
complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know
how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting and struggling all the
time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed. Her
father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and
placed each on a high fire.
Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot,
eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let
them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter, moaned
and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he
turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in
a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the
coffee out and placed it in a cup.
Turning to her, he asked. “Daughter, what do you see?”
“Potatoes, eggs and coffee,” she hastily replied.
“Look closer”, he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and
noted that they were soft.
He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off
the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought
a smile to her face.
“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.
He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans
had each faced the same adversity-the boiling water. However, each one reacted
differently. The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling
water, it became soft and weak. The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell
protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the
inside of the egg became hard. However, the ground coffee beans were unique.
After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and
created something new.
“Which one are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity
knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee
bean?”
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