One man who carried water had two large pots hanging on the end of a pole, which he placed on his shoulders. One of the pots had a crack in it, while the other pot was spotless and always delivered a full serving of water at the end of the long walk from the source to the teacher's house. The cracked pot carried only half of it.
This continued daily for two years: the water carrier delivered only one and a half pots of water to his teacher's house. Of course, the immaculate pot was proud of his achievements. And the poor cracked pot was terribly ashamed of its imperfection and was very unhappy, since it could only do half of what it was intended for.
One day he spoke sadly to the water-carrier near the spring:
“I’m ashamed of myself and I want to apologize to you.”
- Why? What are you ashamed of?
“During these two years, I only did half of my work every day because the crack in the side allows water to seep in all the time you walk to your teacher’s house. Because of my shortcomings, your work was not done well enough,” the pot said dejectedly. The water carrier felt pity for the old cracked pot and, being compassionate, said:
“As we head back to the teacher’s house, I want you to admire the beautiful flowers on the way there.”
Indeed, when they climbed the hill, the cracked pot drew attention to the excellent flowers on one side of the path, and this calmed him a little. But at the end of the path, as always, he felt bad, because half of the water had leaked through him again. He started apologizing to the water carrier again. Then the water bearer said to the pea:
“Did you notice that the flowers only grew on your side of the path, but not on the side of the other pot?” The point is that I have always been aware of your shortcomings and used them for good. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path and every day when we walked back from the source, you watered them. For two years I was able to decorate my teacher's desk with them. Without you, as you are, there would not be this beauty in his house!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru