The Farmer and the Eggshell

One of the challenges that we face with our organization is delivering conveying to people that want to work with you to do so… with integrity.

George and I attempt through The Helpful Hands Foundation to find ways we can help our community.

There is incredible risk when you are serving others.
Anyone that has ever been given charge to put a team together can appreciate the special frustration in finding like minded people focused on giving before getting.

As we are faced with an ‘older nation’ I am coming across people that feel that because they are older they are entitled to rewards and ‘titles’ they have not proven to be worth of, they want everything without giving. It is in the giving that we are rewarded — having said that, once the team is in place it is truly magical when we can come together and work towards developing a team mindset of delivering service with integrity. The rewards are exponential!

In serving others we become ‘stewards’ of each other.

As I welcome others to come and help through service with me, I find the biggest challenge is protecting the reputation of the foundation. For the most part, people do mean well, but when it comes to service, integrity and reputation… the old saying is golden: ‘Treat others as you wish to be treated’.

Dadang Kadarusman an inspirational storyteller once shared a story about eggshell and reputation.

Something as simple as eggshell can be used to demonstrate how important it is to protect our reputation. Here is the story: The Farmer and the Eggshell

The Farmer had seven hens producing eggs. One particular afternoon, The Farmer asked a young man visiting to take an egg from its nest. When the young man returned back with an egg in hand, he found the farmer holding a sharp needle.

“Please make sure you can remember this egg!” said The Farmer as he lifted the egg from the young mans hand.

“What will you do?” inquired the young man.

“Watch this,”

Then the farmer jabbed the egg with the needle. Slow and tender.

“Why are you doing that?” insisted the young man.

“You will understand. Just be patient and wait,” The Farmer said.

Afterward, The Farmer returned the egg back to the young man, who checked it precisely on the place where the small needle jabbed it. A very small dot of the sharp needle on the surface of the eggshell was all that could be seen.

“Make sure you can remember this egg!” The Farmer repeated. “Now return this egg back to the den. ”
“I don’t think so,” said the young man. “For me, all the chicken eggs appear to be the same.”

“Just wait. And you will understand….” He reciprocated.

In the next three days, The Farmer asked the young man to take the egg back to him. “That is impossible all the eggs look to be the same. What if I take a wrong egg?”

”Just try!” he said. He commanded the young man to go into the chicken coop.

A few moments later the young man returned with an egg in his right hand, while his other hand pinched his nose closed, The Farmer inquired: “An easy task, wasn’t it?”

“I do not know, whether this is the right egg,” replied the young man.

“Surely the egg, Son”

“How can you be so confident?”

“Because, this is the egg we jabbed its shell three days ago” showing the young man the pin hole on the eggshell.

An egg with a damaged shell will immediately become a rotten egg and reek. The eggshells function is to protect the entire substance inside it.

The eggshell is likened to integrity. It has equal function with ‘your integrity’, which is taking care of your reputation.

In today’s business life you will only become good in your field and remain to be good, if you are able to take care of your integrity. Once you tarnish your integrity, sooner or later people around you will smell it. Your reputation will be damaged.

The substance inside the egg is a symbol referring to your reputation.

Once you hurt your own integrity no matter how mild or severe it is, it would be damaged. And it no longer protects your reputation. And like the egg, once your reputation can not be protected by the shell of your integrity, sooner or later, you would become like a decaying egg. Stained and Smelly; in the end you must be put aside from your community and lose all the opportunities you should get.

There is only one way for you to assure that your reputation remains protected, and it is by ensuring that your integrity shell remains intact. Do not let it damage even for a very small wound. Though very thin, the eggshell is a very important element to the egg’s entirety and wholeness.

Protect your integrity shell and it will guard your reputation. In your colleague’s eyes, your customer’s eyes and last but not least, in your own eyes.

Daisy Says: Be true to YOU.