A certain man planted a rose and watered it
faithfully, and before it blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon
blossom and also the thorns. And he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from
a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?" Saddened by this thought, he neglected
to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it died. So it is with many
people. Within every soul there is a rose. Many of us look at ourselves and see only the
thorns, the defects. We despair, thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We
neglect to water the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our
potential.
Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show it to them.
One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able to reach past the thorns and
find the rose within others.
This is the characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults,
recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can overcome his faults.
If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns. Then will he blossom, blooming forth
thirty, sixty, a hundred
fold as it is given to him.
Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and not their
thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel for each other; only then can we
bloom in our own garden.