Question: Why, when can someone be a friend to anyone?
Really, it’s hard to find a true friend and it takes time for one to say when a person has found one. So many circumstances and places, a lot of conditions… heaven knows what else but people tend to set standards in building friendship. That old woman I had respected so much, my grandma, once told me, “Real and lasting friendship, doesn’t have an exact measure for the other nor does it thrive on abundance and triumph alone, rather it’s there constantly in all state of affairs as it comes freely and grows in the heart of both. It is not selfish to seek only for personal growth nor does it count neither the dismal passing of the time or the extent of distance. Friends do not have to see the presence of the other always because they trust that the other will be around in time when the need for the presence of a friend comes.”
Anyway, we have heard of stories about great friendships like that of David and Jonathan, Damon and Pythias, even that of Ruth and Naomi but I’d like to share with you my favorite. It has been told to me many times by my late father. Below is the summary of the story:
The Selfish Giant
by Oscar Wilde
There was once a lovely garden with soft green grasses. It was bordered by beautiful flowers and its orchard grew peach and apple trees that break delicate and fragrant blossoms in the springtime and bore rich fruits in the autumn. The owner is a big Giant who went on a long vacation to a friend’s palace – an Ogre living in a faraway land.
Children come here on their way home from school to play or listen to the birds… The birds come here to sing their sweet songs as they chase each other on the branches.
One day the Giant came back. He was so angry when he saw the children in his garden that he drove them screaming so loud, “My garden is only for me to enjoy.” The children ran in fear while the Giant put up a wall and a huge notice board saying, “TRESPASSERS WILL BE PUNISHED.” The people saw it but they didn’t wonder because they knew that he was a very selfish Giant.
The children didn’t play in the Giant’s garden anymore but they sometimes play near its walls and talk of their happy times inside it.
Spring came – all over the country the little blossoms broke from the tree branches and little birds began to sing their songs. Inside the Giant’s garden, though, it remained winter. The little flowers refused to be aroused from their long winter sleep and the birds didn’t come to sing anymore. Snow and Frost were so happy that they have a place to live in all year round. They invited their great chum, the North Wind to stay there with them and he did. So they covered the garden of the Selfish Giant with a thick white cloak of snow as the North Wind roared about it all day. They invited Hail to visit and the friends enjoyed romping around their new abode, roaring as they go.
The Selfish Giant wondered why Spring never came to his garden, neither did Summer and Autumn. It was freezing Winter that stayed long in his garden. He was so alone in the cold and lonely too.
One morning, the Giant lay awake in bed deciding if he was hearing right. He thought he was dreaming of a lovely, melodious sound, the children’s laughter and what more? He sniffed again and again and he was sure that it was a delicious perfume carried by the breeze. Have his trees been touched by Spring? Full of anticipation, he jumped out of bed and ran to the window. He was eager to see Spring touch everything in his garden.
His eyes popped at what he saw… the hole in the wall where the children crept; the children sitting in the branches of his trees; and he can’t believe to see that in every branch where a child sat, the tree has covered itself with beautiful blossoms. The tree seemed to wave gaily at the children and the birds to come closer and have fun. The little flowers that bordered his garden walk were gladly peeping through the green grass too. They were beaming with pride in their colorful petals. It was a perfect scene until he noticed that in one corner of the garden, it was still winter.
The Giant saw a little boy standing under the tree looking up at the branch which he tried so hard to reach. He was crying bitterly. The Giant’s heart melted and he realized how selfish he had been. He cried, “Now, I know why Spring would not visit my garden. I had been so selfish. I will put that poor boy on top of that tree, and then, I will knock down all the walls so that my garden shall be the children’s playground forever.
That very morning, the villagers saw the Giant playing with the children in the most delightful garden full of blossoms that none in the world can compare. Some saw how the little boy stretched out his arms and flung them around the Giant’s neck, and kissed him. The little boy taught him the joy of caring and be accepted by the other.
All day long the children played and they bid the Giant goodbye in the evening to go home. The Giant sought out the little boy whom he learned to love best but none of the children knew where he went or where he lived. Every afternoon thereafter, the Giant played with the children when school was over but he never saw the little boy again. Everyday too, he would tell the children, “How I would like to see him… that boy who never showed fear of me because he kissed me… my first little friend.”
Years went by and the Giant grew so old and weak. He can’t play with the children anymore but he sat in a big armchair and enjoyed watching them at their games… He would often whisper, “I have many beautiful flowers but the children in my trees are the most beautiful flowers of all.”
One winter morning, the Giant saw the most marvelous sight… He saw that the tree, where he played with the little boy, on the farthest corner of the garden was covered with lovely white blossoms; the branches have turned golden where silver fruits hung down from them. His heart jumped when he saw that the little boy he loved stood beneath it. He was beside himself with great joy.
He hastened to the garden and when he came close to the boy; his face grew red with anger because he saw that on the palms of his hands were prints of two nails and the prints of two nails were also on the little feet.
“Who has done this to you?” cried the Giant. “Tell me, that I may take my big sword and slay him.”
“No,” answered the child. “These are the wounds of Love.”
The Giant was so awed that he fell on his knees to ask, “Who are you?”
The little child smiled and said, “You let me play once in your garden; today you shall come with me to my garden… which is Paradise.”
That afternoon, when the children came to play, they found their friend, the Giant, lying under the tree, all covered with the fragrant, white blossoms – dead.
End of the story.
In this present time of the internet generation where human interaction is not given so much quality time, where friends and pets can be had in the virtual world without worry of personal adjustments and material cost… it will take a lot of painful efforts to be ‘a friend’ and no doubt, it will take more time to look for the ‘real friend.’ What do you think?
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