Seasons of 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 I ever saw." The last son disagreed with all of them; he said that 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 only one season in the tree's life.
He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person by only one season, but by the essence of who they are. The pleasure, joy and love that come from life can only be measured at the end, when all the seasons have been fulfilled.

Sometimes, I think our children forget that we, who are in the winter of our days, have been through all the other seasons and have learned the lessons therein. Don't sell us short --- we may be slower, but we are not dumber. We've been there, done that and bought the Tee shirt.