Lessons on life
By applefreak
@applefreak (3130)
Singapore
October 14, 2008 11:44pm CST
came across this in my email and felt i must share it here. have read a few discussions lately about how things are not going too well for some mylotters. hopefully this will cheer them up. at least offer them some hope that things might not be so bad after all. enjoy and keep looking forward to spring. cheers 
Lessons on Life
There was a man who had 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 lessons:
Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later
CHEERS
Lessons on Life
There was a man who had 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 lessons:
Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later
CHEERS3 people like this
8 responses
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
24 Oct 08
yes we can't judge anyone in just one meeting. we will form an opinion, no doubt, but there is no way this opinion is accurate unless we deal with this person further. i've formed several mis-judgement about some of my pals. and more often than not, people have formed mis-judgement of me too. many of my friends told me they thought i was a snobbish and bad tempered person when they first met me. it's after many interactions that they realised i'm totally not what they imagined. 
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
26 Oct 08
i guess it's the way i look. my features are such that if i don't smile i look angry. many a times people have thought that i was angry because i wasn't smiling. but then again, how do they expect me to go round all day with a smile on my face. then they'll start to ask what is making me so happy.
, anyway i am glad later they Found Real of U
Take care
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
15 Oct 08
This story was like passing around so long ago.
Heh heh heh... it is a very nice story.
Very meaningful as well to read.
Like the moral of the story a lot.
Well, I guess with the up and down of the economy today, it is the winter phase of life for many. I sure hope winter will break soon and spring come earlier!
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
16 Oct 08
this is the first time i came across this story. feels that it's really meaningful that's why sharing here. it's particularly fitting for times like now. was reading the newspaper today, felt so bad for those who got badly burnt. especially those retirees who thought their money is safe with the bank. like one of them said, 'it's the bank. if i can't even trust the bank, who can i trust?' 
1 person likes this
@ahgong (10064)
• Singapore
16 Oct 08
I know what you mean. I also feel for those retirees.
Those unscruplous sale people are too much.
They never thought, what if that old couple is their parents? What would they do?
ALL they are worried about are their quotas. Which could be quite ridiculous.
That is why I cannot be a sales person. I probably could not sleep if I knowingly managed to convince a person to give up his entire nest egg for a investment that I do not know for sure will work out in the time duration that is stipulated (in this case, 5-10 years).
And the worst part of it is, there is no recourse for these people who signed the contract blindly simply because they trusted the bank these sales pitchers work for.
1 person likes this
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
16 Oct 08
well, i guess the sales people might not have meant for this to happen. most probably they don't know about the product they are selling either. i read an article in the new paper that the sales person herself got burnt.
i can't be a sales person too. i just can't bring myself to sell products that i don't really have confidence in. unless i am convinced that the thing works, the company can't pay me enough to sell it.
1 person likes this
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
16 Oct 08
yes we don't always get to enjoy life. if not good times will not seem so good. it's just like how the story about the french emperor goes. there was war and the people are all starving. someone told the emperor that the people has no bread to eat. the emperor asked with innocence, 'why don't they eat cake instead?' the emperor will never understand how it feels going hungry. as such, he wouldn't appreciate food as much as we do. thanks for your response and hope the spring in your life will last longer.
@pyewacket (43903)
• United States
5 Nov 08
What a beautiful story! That can be applied to each day as well. Just cause one has an "off" or lousy day one week, doesn't mean the rest of the week or the weeks to follow will be that way. Thanks for sharing this
1 person likes this
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
5 Nov 08
yes, how well you put it. 
having an 'off' day doesn't mean the rest will be as 'off'. in fact, some days i console myself that things just can't get worse. if i'm already at the bottom, there's no way but up!
i'm glad that you enjoyed the story.
having an 'off' day doesn't mean the rest will be as 'off'. in fact, some days i console myself that things just can't get worse. if i'm already at the bottom, there's no way but up!
i'm glad that you enjoyed the story.
@munhozmib (3836)
• Sao Paulo, Brazil
15 Oct 08
Hello, AppleFreak!
That is pretty true! People are constantly judging others by what they "think" that they know. In fact, they haven't known the person. They just have an image, a completely wrong one, of the person. You cannot judge anybody just because of ONE action or ONE word. You must know the person before you try to judge it.
I could dare to say that you should only judge your friends, because then you are sure that you know them.
Respectfully,
Munhozmib.
1 person likes this
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
16 Oct 08
hi munhozmib, i like the way you interpret the story. it didn't occur to me to think about it this way. it's really so true when you mentioned it. how we think we know everything about everyone when in actual fact, we know nothing. it's a humbling thought though, realising that how i go about judging people from the little i know. thank you for pointing this out to me. i must keep it in mind and stop myself before i start judging people who i don't really know. 
cheers
it didn't occur to me to think about it this way. it's really so true when you mentioned it. how we think we know everything about everyone when in actual fact, we know nothing. it's a humbling thought though, realising that how i go about judging people from the little i know. thank you for pointing this out to me. i must keep it in mind and stop myself before i start judging people who i don't really know. cheers
@tamarafireheart (15384)
•
15 Oct 08
Hi applefreak,
What a nice way of putting it, it is very true, thank you for explaning it in such a beautiful way and most understandable story.
Tamara
1 person likes this
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
16 Oct 08
hi tamara, good to know that you like this. it's a really nice story and i felt i had to share it here. hopefully it'll give some fellow mylotters a glimmer of hope in bad times. take care and may your spring be here already. i know my spring is nearing so i shall sit out my winter. cheers
@frankiecesca (2489)
•
15 Oct 08
I get a lot of emails with moral stories in them like this but I've never seen this one before - it's actually quite a good one and has a good meaning behind it! x
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
16 Oct 08
yes i do receive quite a number of them in my email. however, this one seems so fitting now. what with the financial turmoil going around the world. i really hope that someone who is down and came across this will feel better. we all go through the four seasons in our life. it's just how well we hang on during winter. cheers
@applefreak (3130)
• Singapore
16 Oct 08
glad that you enjoyed it. good to have a platform like mylot to share such stories.
