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 he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said 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 but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a
person, by only one season,
and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure,
joy, and love that come
from that life can only be measured at the end, when
all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the
promise of your spring,
the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of
all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches
and better times are sure to come some time or later