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Story Time: Dissatisfaction with life
Once upon a time a girl named Saima lived in a village. She was the only child of her parents. They lived a happy life. When she grew up she got married to a middle class man and lived happily for some time. But after a few years of her marriage she started having some problems. She tried to solve all those problems but she failed and she had to live from hand to mouth.
Her problems increased and one day she lost all hope and went to her mother’s house. She complained to her mother about her dissatisfaction with life. It seemed that as one problem was solved a new one arose.
Her mother took her to the kitchen; there she put three pots of water on the stove. In one pot she put carrots, in the second she put eggs and in the third she put ground coffee beans and let them boil without saying a word.
Saima waited, wondering what her mother was doing. In about 10 minutes she fished the carrots and eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and poured it in a bowl.
Then she asked Saima what she observed. She said I saw carrots, eggs and coffee. Her mother brought these things closer one by one and asked Saima to feel the things. First she felt carrots and found that they were soft. Then she shelled an egg and observed that it was hard. Finally, she sipped the coffee, and smiled, as she tasted its rich taste and smelled the aroma.
Still not understanding anything she asked her mother what was she trying to say by doing all this.
The mother explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but after being subjected to boiling, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile, its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after being put in boiling water, its inside hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique however, after they remained in the boiling water, they dissolved and changed its colour.
“Which are you?” she asked Saima. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you the carrot that seems hard, but with pain and adversity do you wilt and become soft and lose your strength? Are you the egg, which starts off with a malleable heart, but after a hardship, do you become hardened and stiff? Or are you like the coffee bean? The bean changes the hot water, the thing that is bringing the pain. When the water gets the hottest, it tastes the best.”
“If you are like the coffee beans, when things are at their worst, you get better and better things around you. How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?”
Saima understood all this and promised her mother that she would never give up or lose hope and co-operate with her husband in everything no matter what she would face. She realized that life is not a bed of roses and if there is a will there is a way.
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