Crackpot Posse
Mar 9, 2006 at 8:50 PM 
I usually don't like the cheesy e-mails people forward each other, but I got this today from my friend Cristin (who has now dubbed our crazy group of friends "the crackpot posse") and it made me smile.
As spring approaches, a parable...
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a long pole which she carried across her neck. One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the perfect pot always delivered a full portion of water and 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 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 flaws. We're all cracked pots. 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.
FORWARD THIS POST to all your crackpot friends, have a great day and remember to smell the flowers on your side of the path.
Reader Comments (4)
What if my pot has a hole?
Then you'll drip all your water out and make mud, which will cause everyone who walks by you to either...
a) slip and fall, which would be funny and cause everyone around you to laugh.
or
b) get pissed that they have to walk through mud and swear, which would also be funny and cause everyone around you to laugh.
That's a pretty good life lesson. We tend to measure our achievments against the accomplishments of others when we simply should be proud of what we've done.
Karyn: Thanks for the blog. Like your first book, it brightens my day.
That is so true. I think I have a big crack, but it isn't in my pot. Hum.....maybe I should plant flowers there.
tee hee.