A relationship lesson from plants

There were two independent houses separated by a compound wall.

In one lived a young guy and in another an elderly, retired man.

Both of them planted identical saplings on their respective side of the compound wall.

The young guy supplied his plant with a lot of water and high quality manure.

The retired man however gave his plant just a small quantity of water and little manure.

The young guy sapling grew into a lush green, leafy, robust plant.

The retired persons plant was near normal but much luxuriant than his neighbor's.

One night there was a heavy rain with gusty winds and the next morning both came to see the fate of their plants.

To the young guy’s surprise his plants had been uprooted where as his neighbor's was unharmed.

The young guy turns to the neighbor and asked, “Why was my plant uprooted by the rains despite such good care where as yours stayed firmed and strong despite just a little care?”

The neighbor answered, “Look young man! You supplied everything the plant would need, in abundance. Since the plant did not have to do anything on its own to search for what it needed, the roots of your plants haven’t gone deep down. I was supplying my plants just enough to keep it alive. For the rest, the roots have no choice but to go deep down into the ground to fulfill its needs. Since the roots of your plants were superficial the rain and wind could easily fell it down. Since the roots of my plant were deeply grounded it could easily withstand this onslaught of nature.”

Isn’t the story similar to the way we deal with our children, with our youngsters?

Sometimes we can be so possessive and over protective of them.

We can end up caring for them to the extent of pampering them, not giving them their space, the facility, the opportunity and the impetus to grow by taking responsibility.

On the other hand, if we just leave them to themselves without proper support and help they may end up making wrong decisions due to lack of maturity.

Caring for our children is exactly like caring for a plant. Under doing it will make the plant die but over doing will make the plant weak.

It is the right balance that will make our children grow luxuriantly and bear flowers and fruits in the form of experience, wisdom and maturity.