The Carrot, The Egg and The Coffee Bean

• Put three pots of water over the fire.
• In the first pot, put some carrots.
• In the second pot, put some eggs.
• In the third pot, put some coffee beans that have been grounded into coffee powder.
• Boil all three pots for 15 minutes.
• Take out what you put in.
  
• The carrots went in hard.
• They are now soft.

• The eggs went in soft inside.
• Now they are hard inside.

• The coffee powder has  disappeared.
• But the water has the colour and the wonderful smell of coffee.

• Now think about life.
• Life is not always easy.
• Life is not always comfortable.
• Sometimes life is very hard.
• Things don' happen like we wis.
• People don't treat us like we hope.
• We work very hard but get few results.
• What happens when we face difficulties?

• Now think about the pots.
• The boiling water is like the problems of life.

• We can be like the carrots.
• We go in tough and strong.
• We come out soft and weak.
• We get very tired.
• We lose hope.
• We give up.
• There is no more fighting spirit.

• Don't be like the carrots!

• We can be like the eggs.
• We start with a soft and sensitive heart.
• We end up very hard and unfeeling inside.
• We hate others.
• We don't like ourselves.
• We become hard-hearted.
• There is no warm feeling, only bitterness.

• Don't be like the eggs!

• We can be like the coffee beans.
• The water does not change the coffee powder.
• The coffee powder changes the water!
• The water has become different because of the coffee powder.
• See it.
• Smell it.
• Drink it.
• The hotter the water, the better the taste.

• We can be like the coffee beans.
• We make something good from the difficulties we face.
• We learn new things.

• We have new knowledge, new skills, new abilities.
• We grow in experience.
• We make the world around us better.
  

• To succeed, we must try... and try again.
• We must believe in what we are doing.
• We must not give up.
• We must be patient.
• We must keep pushing.
• Problems and difficulties give us the chance to become stronger... and better... and tougher.
• What are we like when things do not go well?
• Are we like the carrot...

or the egg...

or the coffee bean?

Be like the coffee bean!