学进去

When my daughter was in primary school, she brought home four small twigs (嫩枝) one day. Her school gave these twigs to the students to plant. None of them looked very well, but with hope for the future, I planted them in our backyard. Over the years, because of an accident with the lawnmower and poor soil, three of them died. Only one survived.

It grew very slowly. It never got very tall. A few years ago, I noticed that it was starting to die. Only the top third of the tree was still green. Last summer I did my best to save it by feeding it a lot of fertilizer (肥料), but it didn’t work.

Later one morning, I went out and looked at it again. I was wondering whether it would be better to just cut it down. As I walked over to take a closer look at it, I noticed something moving in the leaves. It was a bird patiently building a nest (巢) in the top branches. I smiled when I looked at it. I thought maybe this old tree was still useful. It might not be healthy or pretty, but it was still giving a bird a home.

This tree reminded me that all of our lives have purpose. It doesn’t matter if we are young and strong or old and sick. Until our last breath, we have things to do, love to give, and joy to share. We can help to make this world a better and more beautiful place.