OPTIMISM

Clearing blue sky,

A promise in bare branches.

In winter, there are sunny days.

In adulthood, childhood can return.

In winter, all things appear dead or dormant. The rain and snow seem

incessant, the nights long. Then one day, the sky clears to a brilliant

blue. The air warms. A mist rises from the earth and the perfume of

water, clay, and moss drifts through the air. Gardeners are seen

preparing new stock, though they are only bare branches and a gray root

ball. The people are optimistic : They know that there will be an end to

the cold.

In adulthood, we often see responsibilities as something dreadful.

Why should we dig the ground when the weather is disagreeable? We see

activities only as obligations, and we strain against our fate. But

there is a joy to working in harmony with the proper time. When we do

things at just the right occasion and those efforts bear fruit later,

the gratification is tremendous.

There was an old man who began an orchard upon his retirement.

Everyone laughed at him. Why plant trees? They told him that he would

never live to see a mature crop. Undaunted, he planted anyway, and he

has seen them blossom and has eaten their fruit. We all need that type

of optimism. That is the innocence and hope of childhood.