-
Dealing
with
adversity
A daughter
complained to her father 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 was
tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed that
as one problem was solved anew one
arose.
Her
father ,a chef,took her into the kitchen .He
filled three pots with
water and placed
each on a high the pots came to the boil. In
one
he
placed
carrots,in
the
second
he
placed
eggs
,and
in
the
last
he
placed ground coffee sat there and
waited for the pots to boil,
without
saying a word.
The daughter sucked her teeth and
waited impatiently ,wondering what
he
was
doing .In
about
twenty
minutes
he
turned
off
the
fished the carrots out and placed them
in a pulled the eggs out
and placed
them in another he ladled the coffee out and
placed
it
in
a
g
to
her,he
asked,
“
Darling,what
do
you
see?
”
“
Carrots,eggs,and
coffee,
”
she replied.
He
brought
her
closer
and
asked
her
to
feel
the
carrots.
She
did
and
noted
that
they
were
then
asked
her
to
take
an
egg
and
break
peeling
off
the
shell,she
observed
the
hard-boiled
y,he
asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled
as she tasted its rich
humbly
asked,
“
What dose it
mean,Father?
”
He
explained
that
each
of
them
had
faced
the
same
adversity,boiling
water,but
each
reacted
carrot
went
in
strong,
hard,and
after being subjected to the boiling water,it
softened and
became egg had been thin
outer shell had protected
its liquid
after enduring the boiling water, its inside
become
ground coffee beans were
unique, they were
in
the
boiling
water,
they
had
changed
the
water.
“
Which
are
you?
”
he
asked
his
daughter.
“
When
adversity
knocks
on
your
door,how
do
you
respond?Are you a carrot, an egg, or a
coffee bean?
”
How about you,my friend?Are
you the carrot that seems hard,but with
pain and adversity you wilt and become
soft and lose your strength?Are
you
the
egg,which
starts
off
with
a
malleable
heart?Where
you
a
fluid
spirit,but after a
death, a breakup ,a divorce,or a layoff,have you
become
hardened and stiff?Your shell
looks the same, but are you bitter and tough
with
a
stiff
spirit
and
heart?Or
are
you
like
the
coffee
bean?The
bean
changes the hot water,the thing that is
bringing the pain,to its peak flavor
when
it
reaches
212
degrees
Fahrenheit.
When
the
water
gets
the
hottest,it just tastes
you are like the bean,when things are at their
worst, you get better and make things
better around you.
Ask yourself how you handle
you a carrot,an egg, or a
coffee bean?
(527words)
The
Rose
The first day of
school our professor introduced himself and
challenged
us
to
get
to
know
someone
we
didn
’
t
already
know.I
stood up to look around when a gentle
hand touched my shoulder.I
turned
around
to
find
a
little,wrinkled
old
lady
beaming
up
at
me
with a smile that lit up her entire
said,
“
Hi
name
is
Rose.
I
’
m
eight-seven
years
I
give
you
hag?
”
I
laughed and
enthusiastically responded,
“
Of course you
may!
”
and
she gave me a giant
squeeze
.2
“
Why
are you in college at such a young, innocent
age?
”
I asked. She
jokingly replied,
“
I
’
m
here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a
couple
of
children,and
then
retire
and
travel.
”
“
no,serious-
ly?
”
I
was
curious as to be taking
on this challenge at her age.
“
I always dreamed of having
a college education and now
I
’
m getting
one!
”
she told
me. After class we walked to the student union
building
and shared a chocolate become
instant day
for
the
next
there
mothers,we
would
leave
class
together
and
talk
nonstop.I was always fascinated
listening to this
“
time
machine
”
as she
shared her wisdom and experience with
me.
Over the course of the year,Rose
become a campus icon and she easily
made friends wherever she loved to
dress up and she revelled
in the
attention bestowed on her by the other was living
it
the end of the semester we invited
Rose to speak at our football
banquet.I
’
ll
never forget
what
she taught
us. She
was introduced
and
stepped
up
to
the
she
began
to
deliver
her
prepared
speech,she leaned into microphone and
simply said,
“
I
’
m
sorry I
’
m so
jittery. I gave up beer for Lent and
this whisky is killing me!
I
’
ll never
get my
speech back in order so let me just tell you what
I know.
”
As
we
laughed she cleared her throat and began:
“
We do not stop playing
because
we
are
old;
we
grow
old
because
we
stop
are
only
four
secrets
to
staying
young,
being
happy,and
achieving
success.
”
“
You have to laugh and find
humour every day.
”
“
You
’
ve got to
have a you lose your dreams,you die. We
have
so
many
people
walking
around
who
are
dead
and
don
’
t
even
know
it!
”
“
There is a huge difference
between growing older and growing
you
are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full
year and don
’
t do
one
productive
thing,
you
will
turn
twenty
years
old.
If
I
am
eighty-seven years old
and stay in bed for a year and never do anything
I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can
grow older. That doesn
’
t
take any
talent
or
ability.
The
idea
is
to
grow
up
by
always
finding
the
opportunity in
change.
”
“
Have no regrets. The
elderly usually don
’
t have
regrets for what we
did, but rather for
things we did not do. The only people who fear
death
are those with
regrets.
”
She
concluded
her
speech
by
courageously
singing
“
The
Rose
”
.
She
challenged each of us to
study the lyrics and live them out in our daily
lives.
At the
year
’
s end Rose finished the
college degree she had begun all
those
years ago. One week after graduation Rose died
peacefully in her
sleep.
Over two
thousand college
students attended her
funeral in tribute
to
the wonderful woman who taught by
example that it/s never too late to
be
all you can possibly be.
Remember,
growing older is mandatory, growing up is
optional.
(651words)
Healthy
Is
Beautiful
We
live
in
a
time
of
“
eyeball
economy1
”
,according
to
the
wold
’
s
marketeers,and
the
advantages
a
great
body
bestows
have
made
beautiful
women
different
than
ordinary
women.
To
women,a
clear
message
is
that
you
look
like
explains
what
kind
of
person
you
ile,the media grasp
every chance to head the direction of
woman
’
s
aesthetics,leading
both
men
and
women
to
increase
their
have defined the relationship between
men and women as
that
in
which
women
attract
men
and
gain
appreciation
with
their
beauty,tenderness,obedience and sex
appeal.2 Regardless of a
woman
’
s
spiritual
wold,vigorous
vitality
and
social
contribution,an
inordinate
value has been placed on their bodies.
On
the
contrary,
man
’
s
value
contains
spiritual
quality
and
relies on matter where
a woman is and whether she is of
a high
or low status,some attention will be paid to her
,in
today
’
s
wold,pleasing and marrying a good man has become a
major
pursuit
and
realization
of
value
for
many
is
to
say,to
women,a good
appearance is no longer a vain demand of their own
but
a social need, forced on them by
colorful and exciting life
of
various,seen
repeatedly
in
the
media
and
ads,discourages
other
they
learn
that
many
of
these
successful
women
’
s
beautiful
appearances
are
recreated,they also
turn,in
large
numbers,to
gyms,beauty salons and weight-loss
clinics to draw out fat,enlarge and
reshape
their
breasts,remove
spots
or freckles,or heighten
the
bridges
of
their
of
them
even
have
toxin
injected
into
their
kind of extreme way
of life costs not only money but,more
important,health and even life.
Although
so-called
“
ideal
beauties
”
are
a
small
proportion
of
the
proportion
in
reality,every
woman
has
her
own
r,in
the
social
culture,
the
one-
sidedness
and