The Cracked Pot An elderly woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole that she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. Daily, the woman brought home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it could do only half of what it had been made to do. One day at the stream, after years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, the cracked pot spoke to the woman. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The old woman smiled, "Did you not notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other? I planted flower seeds and every day as we walk back, YOU water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without your being just the way that you are, there would not be this beauty to grace my home."
