THE CRACKED POT

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 walks 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  two 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.’ 

Each  of us has our own unique flaw. But it’s the  cracks and flaws we each have that make our  lives together so very interesting and  rewarding. 

You’ve  just got to take each person for what they are  and look for the good in  them. 

So,  to all of my cracked pot friends, have a great  day and remember to smell the flowers on your  side of the path!