Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee

I usually ignore the treacly, simplistic, and supposed inspirational messages that co-workers pass along to me. I’ve edited out some of the redundancies of the following and recommend that you glean what you can from it:

A young woman went to her mother complaining of her difficulties. 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 boiled them and in twenty minutes 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.

She asked her daughter to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to break an eggshell and see the hardboiled 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?"

Her mother replied, “Each of these objects faced the same adversity, boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But 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 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? 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.

Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? Do you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong and enough sorrow to make you human? The happiest people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes their way.


My thanks to the anonymous person who created this.