Daily Parable: One Beautiful Spring Day, a Red Rose Blossomed in a Forest

Life teaches us lessons in different ways. Some might learn the hard way, and some might not. Here is a parable of a red rose that thought it was the most beautiful plant in the forest.

A red rose blossomed in a forest one lovely spring and grew amongst several plants and trees. One day, the rose glanced around and got a reaction from a pine tree nearby.

The pine exclaimed that the rose was beautiful and wished it was as lovely as the red flower. Another tree interrupted and encouraged the pine not to be sad because they could not have everything.

The sunflower explained that the forest had numerous beautiful plants, and the rose was just one of them. Replying to the sunflower, the rose said it saw everyone staring and admiring its beauty.

Next, the rose looked at the cactus plant in disgust and tagged it an ugly plant full of thorns. The pine attacked the proud rose and brought to its attention that it had thorns too.

The rose was very disappointed to be compared with the cactus and told the pine plant it knew nothing about beauty. Other trees felt saddened by the rose's behavior and exclaimed that it was proud.

Days passed, and the beautiful rose continued using insulting words on the cactus. It described the cactus plant as useless and felt sorry to be its neighbor.

Despite receiving a bunch of insults, the cactus remained calm and never got upset. Rather, it would try to advise the rose by explaining that God did not create any life without a purpose, but the rose never listened.

The spring passed, and life became tough in the forest due to the warm weather and lack of rainfall. Plants and animals needed water to survive but found it difficult to get any.

Days went by, and the red rose began to wilt. One faithful day, the rose noticed the sparrows sticking their beaks into the cactus and leaving satisfied. Puzzled, it asked the pine tree what the birds were doing.

Replying to the rose, the pine explained that the birds got water from the cactus. The rose was eager to know if the cactus felt pain while the birds bore holes in it.

The pine replied in the affirmative but explained that the cactus did not enjoy seeing the birds suffer. In amazement, the rose asked the pine if the cactus had water.

The pine replied that the cactus did and told the rose it could drink from it. The pine tree confirmed that the sparrows could bring some water for the rose if it asked the cactus for help.

The rose felt ashamed for using hurtful words in the past and could not bring itself to ask for help from the cactus. However, after some moments of deliberation, the rose summoned up courage and asked the cactus for water.

To its surprise, the cactus agreed, and with the help of the birds, the rose's roots were watered. From that day onward, the rose learned never to judge anyone by appearance.

Learned anything from this parable? Read another parable about a lonely elephant walking through the forest.

Source: English for Students