A father was sitting watching TV when suddenly his daughter approached him, expressing her dissatisfaction with life and how she couldn’t understand what had caused all her problems. The daughter seemed to be in constant conflict with life, as every problem solved seemed to be followed by another.
Being a chef, her father took her to the kitchen. He filled three pots with water and placed each one on high heat. When the water in all three pots came to a boil, he placed potatoes in one pot, eggs in another, and coffee beans in the third. Then he stood quietly without saying a word to his daughter.
The daughter protested and impatiently waited to see what her father was doing. After twenty minutes, he turned off the gas.
The father removed the potatoes from the pot and placed them in a bowl. He took out the eggs and placed them in another bowl. He then poured the coffee into a cup.
Turning to his daughter, he asked, “What do you see, my dear?”
The daughter replied, “Potatoes, eggs, and coffee.”
The father said, “Look closer and touch the potatoes.”
The daughter did so and found that they had become soft.
Then he asked her to break the eggs. When she took them out, she realized that the eggs had become hard.
Finally, the father asked her to taste the coffee. The aroma of the coffee brought a smile to the daughter’s lips.
Then she asked her father, “What does all this mean, Dad?”
Her father replied, “The potatoes, eggs, and coffee, all faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The potato was hard and strong, but after being exposed to boiling water, it became soft and weak. The egg had been fragile with a thin protective layer inside, but after being in boiling water, its inside became hardened. However, the coffee beans were unique. When they met boiling water, they changed the water and created something new.
Which one of these are you?”
