Once upon a time, a daughter complained to her father that her life was sorrowful. She got tired of struggling and fighting in her life all the time. It seems that life is full of problems. As one problem gets solved, another problem soon follows.
Listening to this, the father asked her daughter to follow him to the kitchen. In the kitchen, the father filled three pots with water and placed the pots one above the other on a high fire. Once the three pots started boiling, he placed potatoes, eggs, and ground coffee beans in three different pots.
The daughter impatiently waited to see what her father was doing. After 20 minutes, all three burners were turned off by her father. The father took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He then pulled out the eggs and put them in a bowl. He further took the coffee out and placed them in a cup.
Turning to her, he asked, “Daughter, what do you see?”
“Potatoes, eggs, coffee beans in three different bowls,” she hastily replied.
The father then asked her to have a sip of coffee. The rich aroma of coffee brought a smile to her face.
“What does this mean?” The daughter asked her father.
He explained that potatoes, eggs, and coffee beans had faced the same difficulties- the boiling water. However, each one’s reaction is different. The potato went in strong but became weak and soft in boiling water.
The egg was weak with the thin outer shell protecting its inner part which is the liquid part until it was placed in boiling water. Then the inner part of the egg also became hard.
The ground coffee beans were unique. After they are exposed to boiling water, they change their colour and create something new.
The father further asked his daughter, “Which are you? How do you respond when difficulty knocks on your door? Do you think of yourself as a potato, an egg, or a bean?”
Moral of The Story: The story of potatoes, beans, eggs, and coffee states that there are several things that happen to us and happen around us in life. But what truly matters is how we respond to the situation when something happens to us.
The story encourages us to fill our lives with love, big dreams, inspiration, power, integrity, gratitude, etc. so that when you fall into the boiling adversities of life, you won’t get too weak or too hard. Instead, you become magical and spread some positive magic.
Everyone faces some or other problems, but every individual has a different choice on how to respond to the problem or situation. If you face difficulties in life, stay strong and hard instead of becoming weak or soft. Always try to give new meaning to your life and you should know that you have the power to control your thoughts, decisions, and actions.
Albert Sihsing 