What do you want to be?

This anecdote was received by me through an e-mail and is thought provoking.

A young woman went to her mother, 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 wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her wise mother did not say anything but led her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on the stove. And the pots were brought to boil. In the first pot she put a carrot, in the second she carefully dropped an egg, and in the last she put a spoon of ground coffee beans. She let them boil for a while, without saying a word.

After twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She stained both the pots containing carrot and egg, which she placed on separate bowls. She poured the pot that contained the coffee powder and water into a third bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'

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

Her mother 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 its shell. After pulling off the shell, she observed that the egg has now become hard boiled.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

The daughter asked, 'What does this 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 being boiled in water, its inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water to a rich aromatic enjoyable coffee.

'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?

By the way which are you?

Are you the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity you wilt, become soft and lose your strength?

Are you the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes when the heat is really on? Do you have a fragile demeanour, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other hardship,  you come out hardened and stronger?

Or are you the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the boiling is over, it adds fragrance and flavor to even the water. 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 you elevate yourself to another level. You also have the habit of turning adversity into an opportunity. 

What are you, then, and more importantly, What do you want to be?