Adversity – A blessing or a Curse

 

Once upon a time a daughter complained to her father that her life was miserable and that she didn’t know how she was going to make it.

She was tired of fighting and struggling all the time. It seemed just as one problem was solved, another one soon followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each on a gas burner.

Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter.

The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners.

He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.

Once the three pots began to boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot and ground coffee beans in the third pot. He then let them sit and boil, without saying a word to his daughter.

The daughter, moaned and impatiently waited, wondering what he was doing. After twenty minutes he turned off the burners.

He took the potatoes out of the pot and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup.

Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked.

He then explained that the potatoes, the eggs and coffee beans had each faced the same adversity-the boiling water. 

However, each one reacted differently. The potato went in strong, hard and unrelenting, but in boiling water, it became soft and weak.

The egg was fragile, with the thin outer shell protecting its liquid interior until it was put in the boiling water. Then the inside of the egg became hard.

However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.

“Which one are you?” he asked his daughter.

What does this mean to you?

We all hate adversity and struggle but, they’re how we grow and become better(or worse) version of our former selfs.

Any bad experience or Struggle you face growing can either make you Wiser (Potatoes – you learned a lesson and adapt) or it could  make you bitter even if you used to be a nice person(Eggs) or you can become the best version of you (Sweet and Unique – Coffee)

It all depends on how YOU.

Here’s a story to drive this point home

A girl born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri had one of the most difficult childhoods.

Her parents split up when she was very young, and she and her older brother, Bailey, were sent to live with their father’s mother, in Stamps, Arkansas.

As an African American, she experienced firsthand racial prejudices and discrimination in Arkansas.

She also suffered at the hands of a family associate around the age of 7: During a visit with her mother, Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend.

A man named Freeman. She told her brother, who told the rest of their family. Freeman was found guilty but was jailed for only one day.

Four days after his release, he was murdered, probably by the girl’s uncles

The girl became mute for almost five years, believing, as she stated later in her life that, “I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone.”

She became a mother at the tender age of 16.

With such a childhood, How do You think she turned out?

Cold hearted (egg)..Learned(Potatoes) or Something sweet(Coffee)..

I’d let you decide

• She lived to the ripe old age of 86
• Was a civil rights activist
• Became the first black woman to write a play for a major film
• She was the first female inaugural poet in U.S. presidential history
• She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom
• Got a Pulitzer Prize nomination for her book of poetry
• Three Grammys for her spoken word albums
• She served on two presidential committees
• She was awarded more than fifty honorary degrees in her lifetime
• She influenced this organisation in some way 🙂 ( You’d find out how)

Potato..Eggs..Coffee…

How do you think she turned out?

I’d tell you who she is at the end of this post.. But back to you.

When next you are faced with adversity what would you do? How would you respond?

Would it make you Bitter, Better or Wiser?

Eggs..Coffee…Potatoes… You decide.

A poem before you go

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod me in the very dirt

But still, like dust, I’ll rise.

 

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

 

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I’ll rise.

 

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

 

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don’t you take it awful hard

’Cause I laugh like I’ve got gold mines

Diggin’ in my own backyard.

 

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I’ll rise.

 

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I’ve got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

 

Out of the huts of history’s shame

I rise

Up from a past that’s rooted in pain

I rise

I’m a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

 

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that’s wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

 

Still I rise ( Maya Angelou April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014)