Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee Beans

I was going through some old emails and I came across this one about the carrot, the egg and coffee beans. (you may not know it, but I save all my emails going back at least seven years maybe more who knows, gotta love that Google Desktop search) Well back to my story, I first read this story after recently finding out that not only had I contracted the HIV virus, but that I was also diagnose with the early stages of AIDS.

That was back in 1989, well I could have just boiled like the carrot and gotten all soft and mushed and eventually just disappear, I could have boiled myself hard like the eggs and taken my vengeance on anyone who crossed by path, blaming the world for my situation. Then again I could have been the coffee been and instead of giving in to my plight, I could reinvent myself into something else, something much more enjoyable and perky.

Looking back at all the things that I have experienced from my earliest childhood memories up to this very day, today, this hour, minute, second, moment I can honestly say I have always been the coffee been. I have never let my experiences get the better of me. Not when I was being sexually abused at the age of two, or physically abused during my adolescent years. I could have given into using drugs during my teens years and early 20s, (believe me I did just about anything that was given me).

I have never let the things that happen in my life define who I would be and/or become. This is why I am sharing this tidbit pieces of myself and the story of the carrots, eggs and coffee beans with you.

Carrots, Eggs, and Coffee Beans

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. 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, without saying a word.In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me, what do you see?""Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied.Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg. Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.The daughter then asked, "What does it mean, mother?"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, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak.
The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened.

The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.
"Which are you?" she asked her daughter."When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?"Think of this: Which am I?
Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?
Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?
Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you.

How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?
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May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy.
The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way. The brightest future will always be based on a forgotten past; you can't go forward in life until you let go of your past failures and heartaches.
When you were born, you were crying and everyone around you was smiling. Live your life so at the end, you're the one who is smiling and everyone around you is crying.