JUST FOR TODAY, I will not judge a man by just one season in his life. As this story goes, three thousand years ago, there lived in the ancient city of Babylon, a rich merchant named Arkadim. Arkadim had four sons, and he decided to teach them some wisdom. In those days, at the entrance to the village of Odam, a hundred miles north of Babylon, stood an old sycamore tree that had existed from the beginning of time. It was to this tree that Arkadim sent his sons, one after the other, just to take a good look at the tree, and report back to him. The first son went in the winter. The second son went in the spring. The third son went in the summer. And the fourth son went in the fall season. When they had all gone on this most peculiar of pilgrimages and come back, he summoned them for a meeting, and asked each son to describe what he had seen. The first son said the tree was uncommonly ugly and grotesquely twisted. The second son said:No, the tree is covered with green buds, and full of promise. The third son said the tree, looking divinely beautiful, was laden with blossoms. Its the most graceful thing I ever saw! The last son scoffed at his brothers. You must all be quite and decidedly blind. That tree is drooping with succulent fruits, and it is full of life and fulfillment. Arkadim smiled wisely and explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but one season in the life of the tree. He said:You cannot judge a tree by only one season. For, a tree is blessed according to the season in which it finds itself. The harsh winter brings out the worst in the tree. The glorious spring brings healing and recovery to the tree. The summer brings out the blooming glory of the tree, very much like the maiden who glows radiantly in the prime of her youth and beauty. The fall season calls forth the ripened fruits of the tree, not unlike the fruitful womb that, in due season, brings forth one healthy newborn after the other. So, if I cannot judge a tree by just one season in its life, who am I, by the same token of wisdom, to judge a man by just one season in his life? If I give up on a man in the winter of his life, wont I miss the promise of his spring? If I give up on a man in the spring of his life, wont I miss the beauty of the summer of his life? And if I give up on a man in the summer of his life, wont I miss the vitality and fulfillment of his fall season? I will not allow the pain of one season to destroy the joy of all the rest. If a man is down on the scale of fortune today, who am I to predict that he wont get up, dust his pants, and start climbing all over again? Who am I to gloat over anothers misfortune when I have not exhausted my own seasons on this earthly plane? Do I know the next hand that life will deal me in its game of cards? Should I not, instead, simply celebrate the benevolence of my Creator in my life, and in the life of others? Today, I shall cry with those who cry, and rejoice with those who rejoice. And my heart will be filled with nothing but goodwill to all men.
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 11:32:10 +0000
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