There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. In order to teach he sent them each on a quest,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 fourth in the fall.
When they all went and came back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.
The first son said "the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted".
The second son said "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".
The fourth son disagreed with all of them; he said "it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment".
The father then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the life of the tree. He told them that we cannot judge a tree, or a person, or anything by only one season -- 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 we give up when it's winter, we will miss the promise of our spring, the beauty of our summer, fulfillment of our fall. We shouldn't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
We shouldn't judge life by one difficult season. We need to persevere through the difficult patches -- and better times are sure to come sooner or later
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