One man in India who carried water had two large pots hanging on the end of a pole which he carried 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.
For two years this continued daily: the man carrying the water would deliver 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 was only able to do half of what it was intended for.
After two years of feeling bitter about his inadequacy, one day he spoke to the water bearer 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 was only able to carry half of my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak all the way back to your teacher’s house.” “You did this work and because of my shortcomings, you did not receive the full result of your efforts,” the pot said dejectedly.
The water carrier felt pity for the old cracked pot, and being compassionate, he said:
“As we head back to the teacher’s house, I want you to notice 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 he again felt bad because half of his water had leaked through him, and so he again apologized to the water carrier for his failure.
Then the water bearer said to the pot:
“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 was always aware of your flaw, and I used it to my advantage. I planted flower seeds on your side, and every day when we walked back from the source, you watered them. For two years I was able to take these beautiful flowers to decorate my teacher's desk. Without you, just as you are, there would not be this beauty in his house!
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru