A mother and daughter were sitting at the kitchen table talking about life. The daughter mentioned that she was beginning to experience some hardships since moving out of the house into her own apartment. As she was explaining to her mother the difficulties she was having her mom got up from her seat, went to the fridge and got out an egg and a carrot. She then went to the cupboard and got a coffee bean out of its air-tight container (she knew how to store coffee beans properly.) All the while, of course, she was listening to her daughter’s story.
After placing three pots of water on the stove and bringing them all to a boil she placed the egg in one, the carrot in the other and the coffee bean in the last. She then turned off the heat on the stove and let the items sit for a little while in the hot water. By this point her daughter had finished explaining what was worrying her; obviously distraught.
The mom spoke to her daughter. “You see, each of these items was placed in the same situation, boiling water. But each of them had a different reaction to the environment in which they found themselves.”
“I…I don’t understand” Her daughter said; voice quivering with sadness.
“Well, take the egg for example. When it was placed in the hot water its outer shell, the part we see remained unchanged. The inside, however, became hard; very different from the fluidness that defined it before. Now look at the carrot. When it was placed in the same situation as the egg it became soft, it gave in to the heat and the water, becoming limp…giving up.”
“That makes sense so far, mom, but what about the coffee bean?”
“Ah, yes, the coffee bean. It didn’t change at all. Instead of letting the hot water affect it, it affected the water. You see, the whole pot of water is now coffee. Sweetie, hard times will come your way, that much is a certainty. But when they do you have to decide what your response will be. Will your response be more like the egg, the carrot or the coffee bean?”
