four sons. He wanted his sons
to learn not to judge things
too quickly. So he sent them
each on a quest, in turn, to go
and look at a pear tree that
was a great distance away.
The first son went in the
winter, the second in the
spring, the third in summer,
and the youngest son in the
fall.
When they had all gone and
come back, he called them
together to describe what
they had seen.
The first son said that the tree
was ugly, bent, and twisted.
The second son said no it was
covered with green buds and
full of promise.
The third son disagreed; he
said it was laden with
blossoms that smelled so
sweet and looked so beautiful,
it was the most graceful thing
he had ever seen.
The last son disagreed with all
of them; he said it was ripe
and drooping with fruit, full of
life and fulfillment.
The man then explained to his
sons that they were all right,
because they had each seen
but only one season in the
tree's life.
He told them that you cannot
judge a tree, or a person, by
only one season, and that the
essence of who they are and
the pleasure, joy, and love
that come from that life can
only be measured at the end,
when all the seasons are up.
If you give up when it's winter,
you will miss the promise of
your spring, the beauty of
your summer, fulfillment of
your fall.
Moral:
Don't let the pain of one
season destroy the joy of all
the rest.
Don't judge life by one
difficult season.
Sent using a Sony Ericsson mobile phone
