I am a Cracked Pot and I like it!
A water bearer had two pots. One was perfect. One had a crack. For two years the cracked pot felt ashamed. Then the water bearer showed it what it had been watering all along.
A while back I read this fantastic story:
A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on each end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots had a crack in it, and while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water at the end of the long walk from the stream to the master's house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years, this went on daily. The perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments but the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection and miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.
After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, the cracked pot spoke to the water bearer one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, and I want to apologize to you." The bearer asked, "What are you ashamed of?" The Pot replied, "For these past two years I am able to deliver only half of my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master's house."
The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and in his compassion, he said, "Did you notice that there were flowers only on your side of your path, but not on the other pot's side? That's because I have always known about your flaw, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back from the stream, you've watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my master's table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house."
When I read this story the first time, the perfectionist in me let out a long sigh.
In my journey of striving for perfection all my life, I have never sat down to think about what makes me unique. As it appears from the story — it is the "crack" in us that makes us who we are.
I am a cracked pot. And I like it.