A carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Written by neobita | 12 March 2008
Posted in Life - Motivation

A daughter incessantly complained to her father about her life. Things were not going well. She did not know how she was going to make it through her difficulties. She was tired of fighting and struggling. She just wanted to give up on life. It seemed that just as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her father, a chef, took her into the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. When the water came to a boil, he place carrots in one, eggs in the second, and ground coffee beans in the third. He let them cook, without saying a word.

The daughter waited impatiently, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes, he turned off the fire. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He scooped the eggs up and placed them a bowl. Then, he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a mug.

Turning to his daughter, he asked, "Darling, what do you see?"

"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.

He asked her to feel the carrots. She noted that they were soft. He asked her to take an egg and break it. After disposing the shell, she saw a hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

She asked, "What does this mean, Father?"

He explained that each had faced the same adversity - boiling water - but each reacted differently.

The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to boiling water, it softened and became weak.

The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. After being put through boiling water, its inside had become hardened.

The ground coffee beans, however, were unique. After being placed in boiling water, it had changed the water.

"Which are you?" he asked his daughter. "When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

Are you the carrot that seems hard, but with pain and adversity, wilt, become soft and lose your strength?

Are you the egg, which starts off malleable? Were you a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a divorce, or a layoff, have you become hardened? On the outside, you look the same, but inside, are you bitter and tough with stiffened spirit and heart?

Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water - the thing that is bringing it pain - bringing out its flavor and aroma. When the water gets hotter, it just tastes better. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you not only get better, you improve the environment around you.

How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?”

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