The old man sat there watering the soil around the tree he’d nurtured over the years, watching how it had grown into the magnificent structure that it was today. He reminisced about the time he’d sown its seeds, promising to make it a good, strong one, guiding it into becoming the bearer of all his efforts, making it stand out among the other trees in the garden. There had been moments mixed with joy and despair. The time when its branches first started bearing its leaves, how green and fresh they were. He’d clear the dust off of them every morning, making them appear crisp and clear to the eyes of the passersby. Then there was the time when it faced its first autumn and he had to watch all those beautiful leaves fall off. How he’d collected the fallen leaves with a sadness and stored them in a box that still sits in his backyard. How spring brought its leaves back and made him smile again. He did all that he did selflessly, only for the survival of his beautiful tree.

”

We’re all temporary here. We are the nurturers, the caretakers of our own little worlds. The tree here represents those little worlds of ours. There will be storms and autumns that’ll try to destroy this tree, and they will sometimes succeed in doing so. But, it is important to know that that destruction is as temporary as the existence of the tree itself. You may take an axe and swing at it with all your might and cut it down, but that’s what cowards do. They choose to run away when faced with problems. They turn their back upon the world and pretend it’s all behind them, when in fact the world will never be the same without that one single tree that was cut down in its prime. Each problem, when seen as a problem, becomes a problem. If you see a problem as an opportunity, it’ll show you the wonderful world that it holds for you.

The word ‘temporary’ is important here. For the entire essence of life lies in that one single word. Everything that exists is temporary. Our lives are as temporary as this very moment that exists right now. It is upto us to make the moment count. We’re the world beaters, and the self-defeated; the lovers of our own making, and the heartbroken souls; the goal-achievers, and the goal-less. No matter who we are underneath this bright blue sky, we’re here only for a blip of a second, and then we’re gone. Still, we think that that pain we got from that broken heart, is never-ending. That that lost business deal, is the end of our careers. That car we can’t afford today, is out of our reach forever. That country not traveled, that mountain not climbed, that person we don’t have the guts to talk to, that perfect life we dream of living, all that is out of our reach, because we just can’t reach it today, when ‘today’ itself is temporary. We’re all time travelers here. It’s not about getting to the finish line first or last, because we’re all going to get there eventually. It’s about getting there with the tree secured in its place for others to find and take shade under.

”

With that thought complete and the tree all watered, the old man closed the tap, and turned back towards his home, smiling.