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A little Chinese wisdom
CHINESE PROVERB
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a
pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in
it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion
of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house,
the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the
woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the
perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was
ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do
half of what it had been made to do.
After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to
the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this
crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house." The old
woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of
the path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have
always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and
every day while we walk back, you water them."
"For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without
you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
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