Lessons from the Simplest Things in Life

A woman learns a complex lesson about life from one of nature’s simplest vegetables — the humble cabbage.

By Debarati Deb

I am sure I will raise some eyebrows or get some “are you crazy?” looks with this question. Nonetheless, I am going to ask it. What do you think of a cabbage? Yes, a cabbage.

I don’t think of it as a mere vegetable anymore. It has presented itself to me in a new dimension.

One day I decided to make cabbage curry for dinner. I put my limited culinary skills to work and tried to chop a medium sized cabbage into fine, small strips. My role model for this project was my mom. She can always transform a whole, round cabbage into the finest of strips. I get confidence in the truth that no matter what, I am her daughter. I can definitely cut a cabbage even if it’s only half as good as hers. It took me quite a while to conquer just half of the cabbage and decided half should be enough. I was happy with my accomplishment. The cabbage strips looked fine and very slender.

I added the finely cut cabbage to the hot oil in the skillet and threw in some spices. As the cabbage was cooking, the quantity kept on decreasing. My thoughts shifted from “it will be more than enough for the two of us” to “it will be enough for us” and finally to “hope it will be enough for him!” The cabbage seemed to be mischievously shrinking in quantity. By the time it was done, the cabbage looked like a small brown topping on a black skillet-cake. Maybe it wanted to vanish after being subjected to my cooking. The quantity was so diminished that it didn’t even fill a small bowl. I was exasperated with myself. Surely, I knew better then to cook only half a cabbage.

Despite another goof up, I realized something very important. The cabbage showed me that often what something looks like is not what it is.

When the dark cloud of dejection, failure, or pain tries to overpower us, we cannot let it control out thoughts and actions. We should try to look for a solution, and we should definitely not give up. It can’t be as big as it looks. There is help and hope beyond this cloud. The help is in what we believe: a supernatural power or our belief in ourselves, and the hope that the best is yet to come.

We just have to wait a while for the situation to shrink — and shrink it will, even vanish. This cabbage-debacle made me look back at my yesterday, and I am happy to say I didn’t give up or lose hope. Yesterday’s trouble was not as big as it looked, and it has definitely vanished. I am glad I didn’t take a step back, and because of that I have my “today”.

Guest Author Bio

Debarati Deb
My best form of expression is writing. It is my passion and writing gives me a sense of achievement. At this point in life, I am a homemaker blessed with a wonderful husband and an adorable pug. I am striving towards making my passion a reality. I am trying to reach people’s hearts with my words.

Blog / Website: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Debarati-Deb/170091966372404

Photo Credit

“Cabbage Head” ShutterBugChef@Flickr.com. Creative Commons. Some Rights Reserved.

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