When adversity knocks, how do you respond? Do you complain? Do you feel sorry for yourself? Do you get mad? Do you take your frustration out on others? Or do you rise to the occasion?

I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. For every problem I have solved, ten new ones seem to crop up. I was about to throw in the towel when I remembered a little experiment from my high school days. Our teacher had filled three pots with water. In the first, she placed some carrots; in the second she placed an egg, and in the last she dropped a few coffee beans. Then she brought each pot to a boil and let the contents simmer. After fifteen minutes she fished out the carrots and the egg and arranged them on a plate. She poured the water into a small cup and placed it next to the plate. Then she had us examine each item. The raw carrots had become soft and pliable in the hot water; the egg’s fluid content had hardened; the plain water from the faucet had turned into an aromatic coffee. In each case, the hot water (adversity) had changed the original substance of each item into something else.

coffee, egg or carrot?

Which do you resemble when adversity knocks? Do you react like a carrot and wither? Do you appear unchanged; on the outside but have acquired a hardened core? Or do you change your surroundings for the better when the going gets tough? Which do you resemble when adversity knocks? A carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

For a sneak peek at the first 20+ pages of my memoir, Walled-In: A West Berlin Girl’s Journey to Freedom, click “Download a free excerpt” on my home page and feel free to follow my blog about anything German: historic and current events, people, places and food.

Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.