Potatoes, Eggs and Coffee

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 followed.

Her father, a chef, took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed them on a high flame. Once the water in three pots started boiling, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in the second pot, and ground coffee beans in the third.

He then let those pots boil, without saying a word to his daughter. The daughter impatiently waited wondering what her father was doing.

After twenty minutes her father 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 another bowl.

He then ladled the coffee out and placed it in a cup. Turning to her, he asked, “Daughter, what do you see?”

“Potatoes, eggs, and coffee,” she hastily replied.

“Look closer,” he said, “and touch the potatoes.” She did and noted that they had become soft. He then asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. Its rich aroma brought a smile to her face.

“Father, what does this mean?” she asked. Her father then explained that the potatoes, 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. The inside of the egg became hard in the boiling water. However, the ground coffee beans were unique. After they were exposed to the boiling water, they mixed with the water and created something new.

“Which one are you,” he asked his daughter. “When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a potato, an egg, or a coffee bean? In life, things happen around us, things happen to us, but the only thing that truly matters is what happens within us. This makes all the difference when we are exposed to difficult situations.”