It was Mother’s Day, but the young mother was a little unhappy, because she was 800 miles away from her parents. In the morning she phoned her mother to wish her a happy Mother’s Day, and her mother told her about the beautiful lilacs (丁香) in the garden.

Later that day, when she told her husband about the lilacs, he said, “I know where we can find all that you want. Get the children and come on.” So they went, driving down the country roads.

There on a small hill, they saw a lot of beautiful purple lilacs. The young woman ran quickly to enjoy the flowers. Carefully, she picked a few here and a few there. On their way home there was a smile on her face.

When they were passing a nursing home(养老院), the young woman saw an old granny sitting in a chair. She had no children with her. They stopped the car and the young woman walked to the old woman, put the flowers in her hands, and smiled at her. The old granny thanked her again and again. She smiled happily, too.

When the young mother came back to her car, her children asked her, “Who is that old granny? Why did you give our flowers to her?”

“I don’t know her,” their mother said. “But it’s Mother’s Day, and she has no children. I have all of you, and I still have my mother. Just think how much those flowers meant to her.”

Nowadays, more and more young people are becoming too proud and over-confident. They often look down on their old parents, and believe that their parents’ experienced thoughts are out of date. Actually I used to be one of them, but after hearing a story told by my father, I changed my mind completely.   

Now I would like to share it with all of you.

Once, there was a young man who always thought that the old were just nuisances（麻烦的人）in the busy life and a useless life to fail. He also did this to his father.

One day, the father and the son took a walk in the woods. As they walked, a beautiful garden came into their eyes. The son pointed to one of the prettiest flower and said, “we young people are like this flower, so healthy and full of energy. What about you old people? Just like the falling leaves from a dying tree.” Hearing this, the father smiled but said nothing. They walked on silently. When they passed a grocery（食杂店）, the father stopped and went in, he bought a walnut（核桃） and showed it to his son, he said, “we old are like this walnut. We’ve experienced many hard events in life. So we built up such a hard shell（壳）, and at the same time we also built up a simple inner world（内心世界）. Every fruit is so full-grown（成熟的）.”

“But every fruit was born by flower.” said the son. “Yes, but not every flower can bear fruit….” the father replied.

This story has taught me a lot. We should try to be a flower that can bear fruit. We also have to know that our parents aren’t nuisances, useless lives or falling leaves but are experienced walnuts. They are the ones we should appreciate forever.