THE CRACKED POT

There once was a water bearer, in India, who had two large clay pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which he carried across his shoulders, when returning from the local stream to get water for his household. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other 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. This went on daily for a full two years, with the water bearer delivering only one and a half pots full of water to his house.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments, it was perfect for what it had been made for, a performed its job faithfully day after day. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it was only able to accomplish half of what it had been made for. After two years of what the cracked pot perceived to be utter failure, it spoke to the water bearer by the stream. The pot said, "I am ashamed of myself and I want to apologize to you. I have been able to deliver only half the load I was intended for because of this crack in my side, that causes water to leak out all the way back to your house. Because of my flaw, you have to do all this work and you don't get full value for your efforts.

The water bearer said to the pot, "Did you notice that there were flowers growing only on your side of the path we take to my house? That is because I have always known about your flaw, and I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back to. the house, you have watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate our table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be all this beauty to grace my house.

The moral of the story is that each of us has our own unique flaws. We're all cracked pots. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that makes 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.