Leafy Trees

(Submitted by the author)

Our life is the prolongation of that of our ancestors and we progress in it following their footsteps. In turn, the life of our successors is a prolongation of our own: when the shoot we plant becomes a leafy tree, they will be able to sit in the freshness of its shade.

In our life, we enjoy time and time again, those material and spiritual riches bequeathed to us from our ancestors, and especially the extremely valuable traditions which are passed down from generation to generation. As their descendants, we have the right to enjoy to the full all that has been left to us.

However, we shouldn’t just limit ourselves to enjoying and handing down these riches and traditions, but we should also develop them on a daily basis and improve on them, so that we will be able to leave our own imprint on history.

If we think about this often, our existence will abound with vitality and we will become aware of the many things we still have left to do. And if we apply ourselves to the task with sincerity, we will feel happy and fulfilled when our life approaches its end, because not only will we have passed down to our descendants those riches and traditions which we’ve received from our ancestors, we will also have bequeathed them some of those treasures which we ourselves have created.