Theme: Love
The seedlings
I was still little when a new baby came to our house.
Surely I should rejoice with my little brother but the
care and attentions which our parents surrounded him
made me jealous and I often wept thinking that I had
lost my parent’s old affection.
Grandpa grew a vegetable garden in the back of our
house. One day when I was more poisoned with jealousy
than ever, he called me. I went to see what he wanted.
He was crouched on a corner where he sowed lettuce. The
tiny, tender green twigs shone the light of that clear
quiet morning.
Grandpa who was steeped in the task of gently separating
the wiggles, did not seem to have sensed my emotion.
He told me:
- Watch! I'm separating the seedlings and then I'll
plant them in the right place. You know, my dear,
affection is like lettuce: it needs to be divided to
grow better. When I was your age, I liked my mother very
much. I was a boy and one day I met a young girl, I
married her and we had a baby. Then came another and
another. But each one who arrived did not take a little
bit of the other. Love is a very curious thing, more it
is divided, more it grows and stronger it becomes. Your
father and mother are very busy with the baby because he
is small, fragile and helpless. But you can believe that
their love for you has grown even bigger...
As I saw the lettuce growing, beautiful and lush, a new
joy was born in my jealous little heart.
The affection of Daddy and Mommy, divided, also grew,
each day, like that plant that had to be divided so that
one seedling would not suffocate the other.
Many times after it when I was disturbed by the desire
of exclusive possession, Grandpa's plantation seemed to
retract in my mind, giving me a new perspective of peace
and serenity.
More divided, stronger and deeper love becomes. I could
never forget that...
Text by Wallace Leal V. Rodrigues, from the book "And
for the rest of life..."
Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com
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