There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not 
to judge É 
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, the fulfillment of your fall . 


Moral lessons: 

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 


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