Eku
deede iwoyi o! Good day everybody!
How
time flies, we are already in the second half of 2021. I will like to encourage
you all this month with another amazing story.
Once
upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and
that she didn’t know how she was going to make it. She was tired of fighting
and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another
one soon followed.
Her
father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and
placed each on a high fire. Once the three pots began to boil, he placed
potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the
third pot.
He
then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The
daughter moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing.
After
twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He took the potatoes out of the pot
and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl.
He
then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her he asked.
“Daughter, what do you see?”
“Potatoes,
eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.
“Look
closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they were
soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the
shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the
coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.
“Father,
what does this mean?” she asked.
He
then explained that the potatoes, the eggs, and coffee beans had each faced the
same adversity– the boiling water.
However,
each one reacted differently.
The
potato went in strong, hard, and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became
soft and weak.
The
egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until
it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.
However,
the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling
water, they changed the water and created something new.
“Which
are you?” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do
you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? “
In
life, things happen around us, just like this pandemic, things happen to us,
but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us. How we respond
to adversity or crisis. Which one are you? Are you taking advantage of the
crisis for your good or the other way round? This pandemic will soon be over
everybody!
Happy
Birthday to you if you were born in July! May your life be full and wishing you
many, many, more birthdays!
Have
a wonderful month everybody!
Eric
O. Thompson
