Lesson on Life (forwarded email)

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:

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