Are u a carrot? An egg? Or a coffee bean?

Found this article (circulating) in Friendster and felt really enlightened by it.... ChEeRz ; )


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
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 flavour. If you are like the bean,
when things are at their worst, you get better and
change the situation around you. When the hour is
the darkest and trials are their greatest, do you
elevate yourself to another level? How do you
handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a
coffee bean?

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.