One day, the boy came back to the tree and he looked sad.

"Come and play with me", the tree asked the boy.

"I am no longer a kid, I do not play around trees any more" the boy replied.

"I want toys. I need money to buy them."

"Sorry, but I do not have money, but you can pick all my apples and sell them. So, you will have money."

The boy was so excited. He grabbed all the apples on the tree and left happily. The boy never came back after he picked the apples. The tree was sad.

One day, the boy who now turned into a man returned and the tree was excited.

"Come and play with me" the tree said.

"I do not have time to play. I have to work for my family. We need a house for shelter. Can you help me?"

"Sorry, but I do not have any house. But you can chop off my branches to build your house". So the man cut all the branches of the tree and left happily. The tree was glad to see him happy but the man never came back since then. The tree was again lonely and sad.

One hot summer day, the man returned and the tree was delighted.

"Come and play with me!" the tree said.

"I am getting old. I want to go sailing to relax myself. Can you give me a boat?" said the man.

"Use my trunk to build your boat. You can sail far away and be happy."

So the man cut the tree trunk to make a boat. He went sailing and never showed up for a long time.

Finally, the man returned after many years. "Sorry, my boy. But I do not have anything for you anymore. No more apples for you", the tree said.

"No problem, I do not have any teeth to bite" the man replied.

"No more trunk for you to climb on".

"I am too old for that now" the man said.

"I really cannot give you anything, the only thing left is my dying roots," the tree said with tears.

"I do not need much now, just a place to rest. I am tired after all these years," the man replied.

"Good! Old tree roots are the best place to lean on and rest, come sit down with me and rest." The man sat down and the tree was glad and smiled with tears.

Written by Daniel O zgheib

This is a story of everyone. The tree is like our parents. When we were young, we loved to play with our Mum and Dad. When we grow up, we leave them; only come to them when we need something or when we are in trouble.

Wallahi May Allah forgives us of our shortcomings and may He guide us.

 Ali's mother only had one eye. He hated her... she was such an embarrassment for him. His mother ran a small shop at a flea market. She collected little weeds and such to sell... anything for the money they needed she was such an embarrassment for him.

It was this one day during elementary school.

It was field day, and mother of Ali came. He was so embarrassed.

How could she do this to me? “Ali said” He threw her a hateful look and ran out. The next day at school..."Your mom only has one eye?!" and they taunted Him.

He wished that his mother just disappear from this world so He said to His mother, "Mom, why don't you have the other eye?! You're only going to make me a laughingstock. Why don't you just die?" His mother did not respond. He guess He felt a little bad, but at the same time, it felt good to think that He had said what wanted to say all this time.

Maybe it was because his mother hadn't punished him, but he didn't think that he had hurt her feelings very badly.

That night...He woke up, and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water. His mother was crying there, so quietly, as if she was afraid that she might wake him. He took a look at her, and then turned away. Because of the thing he had said to her earlier, there was something pinching at him in the corner of his heart. Even so, he hated his mother who was crying out of her one eye. So he told to him self that he would grow up and become successful, because he hated his one-eyed mother and desperate poverty.

Then he studied really hard. He left his mother and came to Beirut and studied, and got accepted in the American University with all the confidence he had. Then, he got married. He bought a house of his own. Then he had kids, too. Now he is living happily as a successful man. He likes it here because it's a place that doesn't remind him of his mom. This happiness was getting bigger and bigger, when someone unexpected came to see him “What?! Who's this?!" ...It was his mother...Still with her one eye. It felt as if the whole sky was falling apart on him. His little girl ran away, scared of his mom's eye.

And he asked her, "Who are you? I don't know you!!!" as if he tried to make that real. He screamed at her "How dare you come to my house and scare my daughter! GET OUT OF HERE! NOW !!!" And to this, his mother quietly answered, "oh, I'm so sorry. I may have gotten the wrong address," and she disappeared. Thanks god she doesn't recognize me.”he said”. He was quite relieved. He told him self that he wasn't going to care, or think about this for the rest of his life.

Then a wave of relief came upon him...one day, a letter regarding a school reunion came to his house. He lied to his wife saying that he was going on a business trip. After the reunion, he went down to the old shack, that he used to call a house...just out of curiosity there, he found his mother fallen on the cold ground. But he did not shed a single tear. She had a piece of paper in her hand.... it was a letter to him.

She wrote:

My son...

I think my life has been long enough now. And ... I won't visit Beirut anymore... but would it be too much to ask if I wanted you to come visit me once in a while? I miss you so much. And I was so glad when I heard you were coming for the reunion. But I decided not to go to the school.... For you ... I'm sorry that I only have one eye, and I was an embarrassment for you. You see, when you were very little, you got into an accident, and lost your eye. As a mother, I couldn't stand watching you having to grow up with only one eye... so I gave you mine...I was so proud of my son that was seeing a whole new world for me, in my place, with that eye. I was never upset at you for anything you did. The couple times that you were angry with me. I thought to myself, 'it's because he loves me.' I miss the times when you were still young around me.

I miss you so much. I love you. You mean the world to me.

My world shattered!!!

Then he cried for the person who lived for him ...His Mother.

The End

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