A Retell Of “A Cracked Pot”
When we look beyond our inadequacies, we can prevail over any adversities.
Here is my own retelling of an old folk tale that many of us could have come across:
Once upon a time, an old woman who lived alone at the foot of the hills had to bring water from the river to her little house every day. Every morning she would carry two empty pots and walk along a path leading to the river to fill the two pots with water and then carry them back to her house at the foot of the hills.
One of the pots had a crack on it while the other pot was just simply perfect.
One day, the perfect pot, who is always looking for every opportunity to disparage others, said to the cracked pot in a hoity-toity manner:
“Look at you! You are so flawed! You have cracks on your body and you are of no use to our master. For every trip our master makes to the river, only half of the water you are filled with arrives at her house and you drip the other half along the way. Look at me! I am a perfect pot without a single crack and I always deliver a full pail of water for our master without fail.”
The cracked pot was down in the dumps and went to the old woman and told her what the perfect pot had said.
The old woman then said to the cracked pot:
“My dear pot. Take a look outside. Did you notice the gorgeous flowers on one side of the path leading to this house? They have grown so beautifully because as I carry you on this side of the path, you have helped me to water the flowers so beautifully for me.”
The moral of the story is that we are all cracked pots and that it is the cracks and flaws in each and everyone of us that makes us so fascinating. Every crack and every flaw may not necessarily be bad after all and every of our cracks and every of our flaws can actually serve a purpose in our life.
When we look beyond our inadequacies, we can prevail over any adversities.
The story has not ended. Here is my own extended version:
Meanwhile, the perfect pot did not know what the old woman had said to the cracked pot. He was enjoying his “perfection” with much hubris in the kitchen area. He was feeling triumphant that he was a great deal better than the sickening cracked pot. He chortled like he was on top of the world when he thought of the ugly crack on the cracked pot.
And he started to jump around the kitchen in jubilee.
Suddenly a loud noise could be heard in the house. The old woman and the cracked pot heard the loud noise and ran into the kitchen. Lying on the floor is a broken pot.
The moral of the extended story is that when we are not careful or when we are too complacent, we can have even more cracks that we thought only others will have. If we pride too much of our temporary supremacy, one day we will find ourselves regressed to the same level that we thought only others will.
Don’t look at a successful person as someone who is impeccable without any flaws and start imitating them. Successful people can be just as “cracked pot” as everyone else.
It is said that everything that happens is either a blessing or a lesson. But actually everything that happens is either a “blessing” or a “blessing with a lesson”. When something goes right, it is a blessing. When something goes wrong, it is a blessing too because we have learned a lesson from it.
Cheers everyone!
