A daughter complained to her father about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know she was going to make it and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose.

Her father, a cook, took her to the kitchen, and he filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to a boil. In one he placed carrots, in the second he placed eggs, and in the last he placed ground coffee beans. He led them sit and boil, without saying a word. In about twenty minutes he turned off the burners. He fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. He pulled the eggs out and placed them a bowl. Then he ladled the coffee out and placed it in a mug. Turning 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 and she did and noted that they were soft. Then he asked her to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, he asked her to sip the coffee. She smiled as she tasted its rich aroma.

What does it mean, Father? He explained that each of them had faced the same adversity, boiling water, but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. But after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water. Its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique; however, after 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?

Where was that cashier? Feeling annoyed, I glanced at my watch. I hardly had enough time to eat my tacos (玉米饼)—if I ever got them—and then dashed back to the hospital where I worked.

But I could still make it back to work in time if people would cooperate. I looked around the nearly empty fast-food restaurant but the cashier was nowhere in sight. A woman whom I guessed to be about my age stood wiping the far end of the counter (柜台) with a towel. When she thought I wasn’t looking, she looked at me with sad, dark eyes.

I waited, drumming my fingers on the counter. I glanced again at my watch, and decided to write a letter about the lack of service in this place. But as I thought about my letter, I thought of Rosie, a former coworker of mine. Standing there, I heard her sweet voice warn me: “Be what’s missing.”

“What do you mean, ‘Be what’s missing’?” I’d asked the first time I heard her use that phrase.

“Whenever you find yourself in an unpleasant situation,” she explained, “just think about what is missing.” Rosie smiled. “It’s really simple when you think about it. If someone is mean, then kindness is missing. If someone is hateful, then love is missing. If we will be what’s missing, then we’ll provide whatever the situation needs.”

Here I was in an unpleasant situation. How should I “be what’s missing”? What was missing was service. When the woman who’d wiped the counter laid down her towel, she walked slowly toward the cash register. With her offensive eyes, and deliberately paced words, she asked, “May I help you?” Before I could respond sarcastically (讽刺地), I again heard Rosie’s voice: “Be what’s missing.”

I took a deep breath. Looking at the woman more closely, I was struck by our differences. I was well-dressed and it was clear that I was in a hurry to be waited on—by someone who was, no doubt, overworked, underpaid, and now looked tired.

With Rosie’s words ringing in my head, I gave the woman my order and smiled.

“We’re all the same, really,” I thought as I ate my tacos.

My favorite book

Shall we watch films or read the original works?

Good morning, my dear fellow classmates!

That’s all! Thank you for your listening.