مركز افق السلام الدولي للتدريب,ofuq alsalam alduwali OSD
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One day, a little girl complained to her father about the hardships of life. She told him that she was living a miserable life and did not know how to get over all the hardships she was facing. As soon as she overcomes a problem, life surprises her with a bigger and more severe problem. Her father was a good cook, and he didn’t say a word…instead, he asked her to accompany him to the kitchen. There he brought three pots, filled them with water, and put them on the fire. As soon as it started boiling, he put potatoes in the first pot, eggs in the second and a handful of coffee beans in the third. He let it boil without saying anything. The little girl got bored and began to run out of patience. And she wondered what her father was doing .
Twenty minutes later, the good father put out the fire. He took out the potatoes, eggs and coffee and put each into a transparent glass bowl. Then he turned to his daughter and said, “What do you see?” – “Potatoes, eggs and coffee!” She answered surprised. – “Take a closer look!” “And touch the potatoes,” said the father. So did the little girl and noticed that she became soft. Then he asked her to break the egg, and she noticed that it had become tougher. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee, and she noticed that it was delicious and put a slight smile on her face. – “Dad, what does all this mean?” I asked the little one in wonder .
Here the father explained: – “Potatoes, eggs and coffee all faced the same conditions (hot boiling water) but each showed a different reaction, the potatoes that seemed tough and strong, became weak soft. The egg with a brittle shell turns the liquid into solid. The coffee was a unique reaction, it changed the color and flavour of the water, and created something completely new.” The father was silent for a while, then continued: “What about you? When you face difficult life circumstances, how do you respond to them? Do you react like potatoes? Like eggs? Or like coffee?”
Lesson learned: Many things happen in life around us, and we face many difficulties and painful events, but nothing of them matters.
What really matters is how we choose to respond to these difficulties.
Do you break us down and make us weak like potatoes?
Or does it turn us into cruel people from the inside, as is the case with whites.
Or do we learn from it and use it to change the world around us, and create something new positive like coffee .
Dr. Taghreed Zuhdi Muhammad
Goodwill Ambassador
President of ofuq alsalam alduwali.osd Center
General Coordinator International Norwegian Organization For Justice And Peace
