“She grows rose plants at her place dear. That is how she gets them”, replied her mom.
“Can I too grow such rose plants and get roses from them too?”, asked Preethi with loads of enthusiasm.
“Sure dear. We will plant one at our place tomorrow”, replied her mom lovingly.
That night, Preethi was really excited. Every moment of that night, She had kept thinking of how she would plant, how she would water the plant regularly, nourish it, care for it and get a rose herself. And the following day, her mom did help her plant a stem in their house’s balcony.
Preethi was having the best time of her life that week. She was caring for the plant, watering it, nourishing it – looking after it as if it were her own child. It was her first love. And with the dawn of each day, She would immediately run to the plant to see if a rose had bloomed.
---------------------
It was three weeks into her planting the stem. One day, Preethi got up at 5 in the morning. And ran to the plant as usual. But something terrible had happened. Alas ! What did she see ?
Instead of rose that she was expecting to see, she saw a very small bud and a long stem with a lot of sharp thorns. Preethi was disappointed. She wanted a rose and she got thorns ? And touching the thorns was so painful too ! This was the least thing she wanted in life. She now hated her desire to love a rose. She thought that roses aren’t so sweet after all. She now decided to ignore the plant altogether. She stopped watering it. And she decided she would never ever go to the balcony after that day.
He took her to the balcony !
---------------------------
When she opened her eyes, Preethi was uncomfortable to see that she was in the balcony. But then, voila ! What did she see in a few seconds ? In the balcony, she saw a beautiful rose. It was the same plant she had ignored 2 months back. It has now grown taller, most beautiful and looked super lovely ! The thorn was still there. But then, the beauty of the rose was too good to notice the thorn ! No one would even care for the thorn now. Even if the thorn were to cause pain, the beauty and loveliness of rose was an experience worthy to suffer the pain !
“But Dad, how is it possible ? I had stopped watering and caring for it ! It had only thorns initially. Where did the rose come from ?”, asked Preethi.
“Dear, a rose comes out of a rose bud. And rose buds are on the stem of the plant. Initially, the thorns grow faster on the stem than the rose does. But if continuously cared and protected for, the rose will eventually come out. When you stopped watering and caring for the plant after seeing the thorns, your mom and i watered, nourished it till we got the rose”, said dad.
“Hmm.. :) Thank you so very much dad”, said Preethi excitedly.
“And that growth is not only about the rose dear. It is also about you. As time passes and as you grow, the bad and troubling qualities in you would seem to be grow faster than the good qualities in you. The thorn like defects in you would seem to become more dominant than the rose like goodness in you. But then, if you fall into the trap and think of yourself as bad, you would be ignoring and killing the rose in you dear ! So, never ever think that there is badness in you. Never ignore the good in you. Never neglect to water yourself for the goodness you have. You will realize dear that in time, by caring for yourself every day and every minute, by valuing the smallest and the bud like good qualities in you, by working on those qualities with love, by not worrying about the guilt of thorns, by understanding that it is all a part of the growth process, one day a beautiful rose will come out of you. A rose that everyone would love. A rose that is so very beautiful. A rose that would just spread joy to everyone who has it. Ignore the thorn. Become the rose dear.”, finished dad.
Preethi could not understand such a heavy philosophy and words of her dad :P. She looked confusingly at her dad. She plucked the rose and immediately ran to give to his brother who was still in his bed sleeping.
