A Carrot, An Egg, Or A Cup Of Coffee?

You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wantedto give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what you see?"

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

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity - boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

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

"Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength? Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart? Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor."

"If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy. The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.

When you were born, you were crying, but everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying. You might want to send this message to those people who mean something to you (I JUST DID); to those who have touched your life in one way or another; to those who make you smile when you really need it; to those who make you see the brighter side of things when you are really down; to those whose friendship you appreciate; to those who are so meaningful in your life. If you don't send it, you will just miss out on the opportunity to brighten someone's day with this message!

By Anne Dremann

 

i'm an egg

 

im a pastrami sandwich with a mustard and pickles dipped in beef sauce

 

i think i'm probably the water itself

 

Woo I'm the coffee.

 

Depends of the water I guess, but I'd say I'm a mix of all of those.

 

Niiiice little story.. good metaphores

 

hmmmm, id like to say im the coffee... i think at times i can be. but i am more like the egg. oh well, least im not the carrot.

 

I *think* I'm the coffee. But I can also be the egg. Not the carrot though, definitely not that.

 

I thought similarly actually. I compared myself to the 'steam', coz sometimes I just want to escape the heat altogether - some situations you want nothing to do with; you just want to run away from them.

...yes, I can certainly say that I've been the 'steam' in the past. I didn't include it as an option though, coz I didn't want to alter the original - which isn't mine! I think I've risked being the egg in the past; I'd like to think that I could maybe be the coffee as well.

 

Me either,

 

Its damn near a novel

 

Ill wait till it comes out on movie and hopefully they play it on cable

 

Depends if the commercial moves me or not

 

Channel Surfer

 

I usually just watch the discovery and history channel.

 

That and i catch the Dukes of Hazard on every once in awhile.

 

I love the spanish channel i cant understand them but ill try. Sometimes i make up my own script to the soaps they have on there. It gets pretty funny sometimes

 

That would be pretty good too,

 

Hell yeah, It seems to me the farther you go south in florida the more spanish channels there are