The Broken Pot - a short story

With a lot of gratitude to the friend who shared this story with me.

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 the 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 for. After two years of what it percieved 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 the 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 everyday 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 unique flaw.But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our life 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.