Four Seasons

There was an old man, who had four sons. He wanted them to learn not to judge things and people as they seemed at the moment. So he sent each of them 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 fourth in the autumn.

A year later, when they had all gone an d come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen. The first son said, "The pear tree was ugly, bent and twisted." The second son said " No, the pear tree was covered with green buds and full of promise."The third son disagreed and said "The pear tree was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing I have ever seen."The last son disagreed with all of them. He said, "The pear tree was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment."

The father then explained to them that they were all right, because they had all seen but only one season in the tree's life. He then said, "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 life can only be measured in the end, when all the seasons are up."