Theme: Self-esteem, self-knowledge, comparison

The banana tree that wanted to give apples

There was a large yard with lots of plants and fruit trees. From distance, the banana tree watched the apple tree and admired it very much.

The banana tree always listened to the comments of the woman who came to pick apples. Sometimes she came with her neighbor who liked to get fruit and used to say:

- This apple tree is really special! It treetop is beautiful and the apples are delicious, very red, juicy and sweet. Any recipe with these apples looks good, you will see!

And so on, she proudly harvested several apples, which were received with joy by her friend.

Sometimes they would pick other types of fruit as well, but as they passed the banana tree, they never picked anything. The woman often still commented:

- What a pity! Look at the bananas of this banana tree! No one is used!

And the other agreed:

- Really! What a strange color! Isn´t there any disease?

When it heard these comments, the banana tree was very sad. It spent several days depressed. It thought it would never bear fruit. It compared itself again to the apple tree, which had small, pretty leaves, and thought it was big and clumsy. The leaves swayed in the wind, tearing their ends.

The banana tree could see the fruit of the apple tree scattered around the crown, while its, despite it best efforts, were all born together on a branch. Its fruit, no matter how hard it tried, were never red, much less juicy. They were orange at best. Even their shape was strange. As they began to grow, the banana tree made an enormous effort to make them round, but they always became longer. It was a total disaster. The banana tree felt ugly, tired and a failure.

One day, the woman went to her yard to pick some fruit and noticed that the lemon tree she had planted was already giving lemons. Approaching to pick them, she said excitedly:

- What beautiful lemons! Very green and big! I will make a lemonade to cool this heat! And I'll take one more to season the fish and salad! Today lunch will be more delicious!

The banana tree, hearing this, marveled and, without taking any curiosity, turned to the lemon tree and asked:

- How did you make those lemons that pleased the woman so much? They are indeed very beautiful, very round, scattered throughout your crown. And it was not a problem that you couldn't make them red. They must have a very sweet juice, because she said she was going to do a lot of things with them.

- Well, to tell you the truth, I don't know. I tried to make the best fruit I can, the way I can. I never bothered to make them red. My vocation is to make them green, so I whipped in the green. And they have juice, but not sweet, on the contrary, it is very sour! Really sour! I almost can't stand the sourness! - Replied the lemon tree spontaneously.

- You know, banana friend, - it continued - I think every tree in this yard has a feature, a gift. Each one can be useful in its own way. And apparently, the woman knows how to enjoy each of the fruit we produce for a recipe.

- That's right! - said the mango tree, which was the oldest and largest tree in the yard - the lemon tree is right! You're very different from us, banana tree, but that doesn't mean it's worse or just the way we look good. Try to figure out what your way is and try to make the best fruit you can with your way of being.

The banana tree had never thought so. It wanted to be helpful and worked hard at it, but maybe it was trying in a wrong way. These new thoughts filled it with hope. It wanted to produce more fruit, and this time let them all be together. It dedicated in yellow and allowed them to develop very elongated. And even without juice, it tried to make them little sweet. It was a lot easier than before and the banana tree itself enjoyed the result.

One fine day the woman came into the yard. Seeing that bunch of bananas, she said happily:

- Finally! What beautiful bananas!

The woman then picked, peeled and ate one right there, commenting:

- Delicious! I love bananas! I'm going to make cakes, pies, banana flour and eat them with oatmeal and honey, ice cream, sugar and cinnamon. I will eat my bananas every day!

The banana tree didn't believe in what it heard. It looked, smiling, at the lemon tree and the mango tree, which smiled at it too.

Finally, it had realized that each one is unique in the universe and that makes each one a special one who can serve God in its own way.

After that, the banana tree started to make better and better bananas. When it was windy, it let it large leaves sway, dancing and celebrating. It was glad that it no longer had to make apples, that it had discovered its essence and was able to produce its wonderful bananas in peace.

Translation:
Larissa Martine - larissa_am@hotmail.com

marcelapradacontato@gmail.com