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MrBump
Third prize is you're fired
Registered: 10/01/02
Posts: 4,263
Loc: Denver, Colorado
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ??
#3127970 - 09/13/04 12:04 AM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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this was posted outside an attorney's door at work: dont know if its been on the BB before but...still worth another read.
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. In the first, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and 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.
She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft.She then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg.
Finally, she asked her to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked. "What's the point, mother?"
Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity--boiling water--but 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 a 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. When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?
How do you handle Adversity? ARE YOU A CARROT, AN EGG, OR A COFFEE BEAN?
-------------------- If it weren't for the bloody corpses, I wouldn't have any corpses at all. There are two ways to get to the top of an oak tree: start climbing or sit on an acorn. Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
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Frog
Warrior
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: MrBump]
#3128016 - 09/13/04 12:14 AM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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I always knew there was a good reason for being a starbucks addict.
Seriously though, excellent point. When adversity arises, don't become bitter, and don't become a push-over, either. Learn from the experience, and adjust.
-------------------- The day will come when, after harnessing the ether, the winds, the tides, gravitation, we shall harness for God the energies of love. And, on that day, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire. -Teilard
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Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: MrBump]
#3128131 - 09/13/04 12:47 AM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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So should the carrot feel guilty for having a "carrot nature"?
-------------------- The proof is in the pudding.
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Blastrid
e l e m e n t al i t y
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: Swami]
#3128291 - 09/13/04 01:41 AM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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That doesn't seem to be the point.
Great anecdote. I'm going to print this out, and keep it around, it's inspiring.
-------------------- Blas'?trid (bl?s tr?d) n. 3rd generation derivitave of a combination of 'bastard' and 'blasted'. Used as both an insult or an expletive. ex. Blastrid! Stereopattern <--My music.
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kaiowas
lest we baguette
Registered: 07/14/03
Posts: 5,501
Loc: oz
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: MrBump]
#3128428 - 09/13/04 02:53 AM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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definately a good read.
do you know who is the author of that story?
-------------------- Annnnnnd I had a light saber and my friend was there and I said "you look like an indian" and he said "you look like satan" and he found a stick and a rock and he named the rock ooga booga and he named the stick Stick and we both thought that was pretty funny. We got eaten alive by mosquitos but didn't notice til the next day. I stepped on some glass while wading in the swamp and cut my foot open, didn't bother me til the next day either....yeah it was a good time, ended the night by buying some liquor for minors and drinking nips and going to he diner and eating chicken fingers, and then I went home and went to bed.
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gettinjiggywithit
jiggy
Registered: 07/20/04
Posts: 7,469
Loc: Heart of Laughter
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: MrBump]
#3128882 - 09/13/04 10:05 AM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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I loved that! Easy to remember when faced with boiling water!
It's sort of ZEN.
Be like the coffee grounds and change the water you are in, make it something rich with your flavor!
Look out for over hardending and softening all together. Be flexible, somewhere in the middle. Can you bend without breaking? Can you stand tall without crumbling?
Thanks for sharing that!
I don't see these as being natures swami, I see them as being choices.
It may be my nature to want to tell someone to fuck off, but I can choose to smile and understand them too. It's not about who you were nurtured to be, it's about who you want to be.
Choices choices choices. They are powerfully transformative options in life.
-------------------- Ahuwale ka nane huna.
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MrBump
Third prize is you're fired
Registered: 10/01/02
Posts: 4,263
Loc: Denver, Colorado
Last seen: 4 years, 8 months
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: Swami]
#3128899 - 09/13/04 10:13 AM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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Quote:
Swami said: So should the carrot feel guilty for having a "carrot nature"?
hmmm good question, i never thought about it like that. i must meditate and keowas (sp?) i dont know the author...its prolly something like a traditional fable.
-------------------- If it weren't for the bloody corpses, I wouldn't have any corpses at all. There are two ways to get to the top of an oak tree: start climbing or sit on an acorn. Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?
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deff
just love everyone
Registered: 05/01/04
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: MrBump]
#3129380 - 09/13/04 12:12 PM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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What about carrot coffee-cake made with eggs? If you boiled that, you would have quite a mess on your hands...
--------------------
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Moonshoe
Blue Mantis
Registered: 05/28/04
Posts: 27,202
Loc: Iceland
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: deff]
#3130184 - 09/13/04 03:09 PM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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the carrot shouldnt feel guilty, it should just realize it would be better of being coffee, and make it so!
(ok maybe the carrot cant do that, but you can! and dont pretend you dont know what i mean)
-------------------- Everything I post is fiction.
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Swami
Eggshell Walker
Registered: 01/18/00
Posts: 15,413
Loc: In the hen house
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: Blastrid]
#3130715 - 09/13/04 05:30 PM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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That doesn't seem to be the point.
Seems that different chemical compounds react differently to thermal stimulus. This is basic chemistry.
-------------------- The proof is in the pudding.
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deff
just love everyone
Registered: 05/01/04
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: MrBump]
#3130746 - 09/13/04 05:35 PM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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Why not be like the water?
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kaiowas
lest we baguette
Registered: 07/14/03
Posts: 5,501
Loc: oz
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: deff]
#3131266 - 09/13/04 07:38 PM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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objects only appear different on the outside
-------------------- Annnnnnd I had a light saber and my friend was there and I said "you look like an indian" and he said "you look like satan" and he found a stick and a rock and he named the rock ooga booga and he named the stick Stick and we both thought that was pretty funny. We got eaten alive by mosquitos but didn't notice til the next day. I stepped on some glass while wading in the swamp and cut my foot open, didn't bother me til the next day either....yeah it was a good time, ended the night by buying some liquor for minors and drinking nips and going to he diner and eating chicken fingers, and then I went home and went to bed.
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Stinky
Toaster ofPop-tarts
Registered: 08/30/04
Posts: 61
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Re: CARROT, EGG OR COFFEE ?? [Re: MrBump]
#3132746 - 09/14/04 12:07 AM (19 years, 6 months ago) |
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I'd like to think of myself as a coffee kind of guy. However, I'm sure some people would call me a big ol' carrot (for more than one reason, but thats besides the point)
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