Carrots, eggs, and a cup of coffee...

I'm not usually big on chain letters, but I recently received this one, and being the...well, I don't want to give it away...

A lovely metaphor. I'll give you the moral at the end (in case you don't pick up on it):


A young woman went to her mother and asked for advice. She said she did not know how she was going to persevere through life. The daughter wanted to 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 fire.

Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second, eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil, without saying a word.

After time had passed, 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 and placed it in a cup. Turning to her daughter, she said, "Tell me what you see."
"Carrots, eggs, and coffee," her daughter replied.

Her mother asked her to feel the carrots.

She did and noted that they were soft.

The mother asked the daughter to take an egg and break it.
After pulling off the shell, the daughter observed the hard-boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee.

The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich flavor.

 The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of the objects had faced the same adversity:

boiling water. 

Each food 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 in the boiling water, its insides became hardened.
The ground coffee beans were unique; after they were subjected to 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?
Are you the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity wilts, becomes soft, and loses strength?

Are you the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat?  Does your shell look the same, but on the inside are you tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or are you 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.

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.

And thus ends the chain-letter. Cute, right?

The moral of this story is to drink coffee.

If you want to become an even BETTER person you have friends like cream and sugar. Am I right, or am I right?

{One of my pet peeves when it comes to chain-letters is the lack of proper grammar implemented. I've done my best to tweak this one so there aren't any blaring mistakes...

Once, I read a "mass-hysteria" (something about spiders that hide in toilets and kill people) email that opened with this question:
"ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE THIS SERIOUS?"
No, not with the way you write. My ability to 'take you serious' hinges on your ability to write in a coherent manner. Not to call the pot black or anything...}

...
On another note, it's FRIDAY! w00t!
I'll see you on Monday, blog. I'll have plenty of interesting things to write about...weddings, guitar-playing, long arduous runs...good stuff, right?