Inspirational Story - Coffee, Eggs, or Potatoes?

One time, a girl let out all her frustrations about her life to her father. She said that her life is full of setbacks. There seemed to be no end to her problems.

Her father -a chef- led his daughter inside the kitchen. He took three same size pots and filled them with the same amount of water. He set the pots on the stove and turned on the fire. When the water started to boil, the father put ground coffee beans in one, some eggs in the second, and potatoes in the last.

He quietly observed the three pots. The bored daughter stood there and was getting impatient with the silence and wondered why her father was cooking the coffee, eggs, and potatoes in front of her.

20 minutes passed, and the father turned the flames off. He spooned the potatoes from the water and transferred these to a bowl. Next, he took the eggs from the water and lay them in a second bowl. He poured the brewed coffee into a mug. He then asks his daughter ‘What do you see?’ To which she replied “coffee, eggs, and potatoes.”

The father said, “take a good look and feel the potatoes.” She touched it and stated that they were soft. The father asked her to break an egg. She did just that and shelled the egg. She stared at it, and it was a hard cooked egg. Lastly, he gave her the mug of coffee and told her to drink it. Both the flavor and the smell of the coffee made the daughter smile.

Finally, she broke her silence and asked her father “what does this all mean?” The father answered, “All three of these faced the same problem – the boiling water. But each of the three reacted differently. The potato was vigorous and sturdy when it went into the water but ended up soft. The eggs were soft on the inside with only a thin shell protecting it. But when faced with the problem, it toughened up inside. But the ground coffee was different. It blended with the water and made itself and the water better.”

The father proceeded “When a problem stares you in the face, which one would you like to be?”