Aspirations of the Founder
The life of a potato

There were two chefs that entered a potato cooking competition. They used identical techniques and ingredients to create the exact dish as required in the brief. However, after tasting each of the two dishes, the judges could easily distinguish which of the two creations they found more delicious and enticing. The judges were overwhelmed by curiosity and had to ask the chef the secret behind his success. The winning chef replied, “It is because lives are different.” Everyone was still confused and baffled with his answer, the chef continued to explain, “I used a normal, regular living potato, whereas the other chef used a refrigerated potato. Through the refrigeration process, the starches in the potato converted into carbohydrates. Therefore transforming and changing the taste and texture of the raw product.” With this information, both the judges and the other chef finally understood.

Life will always find a way

When you are in a terrible situation or environment, you will always try to find a way to survive and pull yourself out of these conditions. This is the value of life. So, what then, is the value of your life? The chef in our example, understood the value of the life of his ingredients, primarily, the potato and how to create delicious and mouth watering dishes. Therefore, if we can realise and understand our own lives and the full details of the value of our lives, all our undertakings would be so much more successful and precise. Most people blindly stumble through their entire lives. Yet have they ever seriously thought about what they can do or what they can contribute to the lives of others? If you understand the value of your own life, you should also understand the value of the lives of other things as well. However, if you do not know the value of your own life, how are you to understand that of others? In order to understand all things, you must first understand the value of your life.

How to understand the value of lives

A customer entered a restaurant, he noticed that one of the neighbouring tables was beautifully decorated with fresh flowers, Champagne and candles but the diners were absent from the table. Curiously, the customer asked the waiter about the mysterious circumstances of this table. The waiter went on to explain that a newly married couple came to have a meal at this restaurant during their honeymoon. In the second year of their marriage, they came again to dine at the restaurant. The following year, they also came to celebrate their third year anniversary. However, on the fourth year they did not turn up. Yet, every year, the husband would continue to reserve the exact table on that day, always sending a deposit of $5. After time, through his contacts and friends, the manager of the restaurant was able to speak to the gentleman in this story, enquiring why he never showed up to dine at the restaurant again, despite making reservations every year. The husband answered, that his beloved wife died of cancer and passed away in the fourth year of their marriage. Since during her lifetime, she was really fond of that restaurant, to commemorate that day, each year, he would reserve their table on that date. After hearing this, the manager was extremely touched, that is why, every year, on their special day, their table is always beautifully decorated with flowers, candles and chilled Champagne, even though the expenses had long exceeded the $5 sent by the husband. The manager was truly touched by the genuine emotion, devotion and love, the husband had for his wife, no money could be put on this, is was priceless. Yet, how about us? How many times have we been affected by things that truly move us? What can we do to touch the lives of others? How can we contribute to society and make our lives worthwhile?