A Relationship lesson from plants
There were two independent houses separated by a compound wall. In one lived a young techie 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 lot of water and high quality manure. The retired man however gave his plant just a small quantity of water and little manure. The techie’s sapling grew into a lush green, leafy, robust plant. The retired person’s plant was near normal but much luxuriant than his neighbour’s. One night there was a heavy rain with gusty winds and the next day morning both came out to see the fate of their plants. To the techie’s surprise his plant had been uprooted whereas his neighbour’s was unharmed. The techie turned to the neighbour and asked, “Why was my plant uprooted by the rains despite such good care whereas your stayed firm and strong despite just a little care?” The neighbour 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 have gone deep down. I was supplying my plant just enough to keep it alive. For the rest, the roots had 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 plants were deeply grounded it could easily withstand this onslaught of nature.” Isn’t this story similar to the way today’s parents are dealing with their children, with their youngsters? this is because, sometimes the parents can be so possessive and over protective of their children.So,they are ending up with caring of their children 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 the parents just leave them to themselves without proper support and help, they end up making wrong decisions due to lack of maturity. Parents caring for their children is exactly like caring for a plant. Undergoing will make the plant die, but overdoing make the plant weak. It is the right balance that the parents should make their children grow luxuriantly and bear flowers and fruits in the form of experience, wisdom and maturity.