One beautiful spring day a red rose blossomed in a forest. The rose turned its head and remarked, “It seems that I am the most beautiful plant in this forest.”
Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, “Look at that ugly plant full of thorns!” The pine tree said, “Red rose, what kind of talk is this? Who can say what beauty is? You have thorns too.”
The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, “I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You cannot compare my thorns to that of the cactus.”
“What a proud flower”, thought the trees. The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like: This plant is useless? How sorry I am to be his neighbor. The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose, saying, “God did not create any form of life without a purpose.” Spring passed, and the weather became very warm.
Life became difficult in the forest, as the plant sand animals needed water and no rain fell. The red rose began to wilt. The pine tree explained that the birds got water from the cactus.
“Does it not hurt when they make holes?” asked the rose. “Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds suffer,” replied the pine.
The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words and behavior to ask for water from the cactus, but then it finally did ask the cactus for help.
Then the rose looked at a cactus and said, “Look at that ugly plant full of thorns!” The pine tree said, “Red rose, what kind of talk is this? Who can say what beauty is? You have thorns too.”
The proud red rose looked angrily at the pine and said, “I thought you had good taste! You do not know what beauty is at all. You cannot compare my thorns to that of the cactus.”
“What a proud flower”, thought the trees. The rose tried to move its roots away from the cactus, but it could not move. As the days passed, the red rose would look at the cactus and say insulting things, like: This plant is useless? How sorry I am to be his neighbor. The cactus never got upset and he even tried to advise the rose, saying, “God did not create any form of life without a purpose.” Spring passed, and the weather became very warm.
Life became difficult in the forest, as the plant sand animals needed water and no rain fell. The red rose began to wilt. The pine tree explained that the birds got water from the cactus.
“Does it not hurt when they make holes?” asked the rose. “Yes, but the cactus does not like to see any birds suffer,” replied the pine.
The red rose felt too ashamed of its past words and behavior to ask for water from the cactus, but then it finally did ask the cactus for help.
------written by Benny Punnathra.