MAY 2012 - Are you a Carrot, an Egg or a Coffee Bean?

Hello Club Members, 


I wish to share this story with you about a carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee. A young woman went to her mother and told her how things were so hard for her. She wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose. 


Her mother filled three pots with water and placed each on the stove. 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 let them sit and boil; Then she fished out the carrots and placed them in a bowl, then the eggs and then the coffee. The mother asked her daughter what she saw. "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," her daughter replied. 
Her mother asked her to feel the carrots -they were soft; the eggs – they were hard boiled and to taste the coffee – had a rich aroma. 
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, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile but its insides became hardened. The ground coffee beans had changed the water. 


How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean? 
The carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity; do you wilt and become soft and lose my strength? 
 The egg starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat to a stiff spirit and a hardened heart? 
The coffee beans actually change the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. 


The truth is we are all three from time to time. Our aim should be to be a coffee bean as often as possible. Behaviour is a decision – to act with nobility or to act badly. 
Our society shows so many displays of bad behaviour – greed, selfishness, pride. And yet there is much more good behaviour – patience, respect, compassion. 


Our society needs to be nurtured and healed – so make a determined effort to be less a carrot, less an egg and more like a coffee bean. Behaviour is a decision ……….enjoy making good coffee.


Words of Wisdom by Mario Calanna - www.calannapharmacy.com.au