A king was once passing by a nursery that belonged to a poor gardener. It was the most beautiful way to the palace. The king stopped his horse and looked at the poor gardener. Although many a times he had passed that place, today he could not contain his curiosity.
The man looked so old and yet he was preparing small plants and working the whole day on those plants. Those were in fact, the saplings of huge trees which at least would take one hundred years to grow and bloom. The lifespan of those trees is also very long.
So, the king was little puzzled thinking, “This old man himself looks more than hundred years old. How can he expect to enjoy the flowers and fruits of these trees? Why is he working so hard in the hot sun at this age?”
The king approached the old man and said, ”I watch you every day, and I see how hard you work. I want to ask you a question. Are you sure you will be able to see the flowers and fruits of these plants?”
The old man laughed and humbly said, ”No Sir, I will not be able to see the flowers and fruits of these plants. But do you see those huge trees, thousands of years old behind my hut? They are the similar kind of trees. They provide me flowers and fruits!”
The king said, “I couldn’t understand you. Please answer my question.”
Then man said, ”If my parents and forefathers had also thought that they would not be able to get the benefit of the plants which they nursed, there would not have been those trees today. I am not thinking about myself. I am thinking about my forefathers and also about my future generation, as I owe them something.”
The old man further said, ”If my forefathers were so patient and happy to think that the future generation whom they could never know, would enjoy the fruits and the flowers ….Do you think I am a worse human being than my forefathers? Can’t I think also of someone, far away in the future, being thankful towards me …?”
The king wrote in his biography, “The old gardener has shocked me with his patience, with his infinite unconditional love, compassion and trust.”
Friends, somebody, some day, is bound to see the flowers and fruits of the saplings which we plant today!
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