Four Seasons of a Tree

by Author Unknown, Source Unknown

Don't judge a life by one difficult season.

There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn to not 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 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. Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.

一棵樹(shù)的四季

不要只在某人某段艱難的歲月里去判斷他的一生。

從前，一個(gè)父親有4個(gè)兒子。他希望兒子們能學(xué)會(huì)凡事勿匆下結(jié)論，于是輪番派遣他們到很遠(yuǎn)的地方去尋一棵梨樹(shù)。

大兒子是冬天去的，二兒子春天啟程，老三去時(shí)已是炎熱的夏季，老么于金秋時(shí)節(jié)踏上了征程。

待他們?nèi)紝?shù)歸來(lái)以后，父親把他們叫到一起，聽(tīng)他們各自描述自己的所見(jiàn)。

大兒子數(shù)落說(shuō)大樹(shù)枝彎干斜，很難看。二兒子連忙否認(rèn)，說(shuō)樹(shù)上發(fā)滿(mǎn)嫩綠的新芽，生機(jī)盎然。

老三不同意了，樹(shù)上明明開(kāi)滿(mǎn)鮮花，吐露芬芳，漂亮極了。

他們的說(shuō)法實(shí)在讓老么啞然，枝頭上墜滿(mǎn)的難道不是累累果實(shí)，在彰顯生機(jī)與收獲嗎？

父親解釋說(shuō)，兒子們的說(shuō)法都沒(méi)錯(cuò)，因?yàn)樗麄兛吹降氖谴髽?shù)一年四個(gè)季節(jié)里的不同情景。

他告訴兒子們說(shuō)，不能以一季來(lái)判斷樹(shù)，更不能以一時(shí)來(lái)判斷人，因?yàn)槿酥举|(zhì)——源自他們喜、樂(lè)、愛(ài)的根本——只有在其生之了結(jié)時(shí)，才可蓋棺論定。

倘若你在冬季就已放棄，那無(wú)疑會(huì)錯(cuò)過(guò)春季的生機(jī)、夏季的美麗和秋季的收益。勿為一季的痛苦而破壞了所有的歡樂(lè)。