The Mango Tree

There is a very ancient legend about a Persian ruler who had four sons. His sons were often critical of others. This was a habit which the father detested very much. So he decided to teach his sons a lesson about being critical.

One winter he sent one of the sons on a journey to look at a mango tree. During the following spring he sent another of the sons to visit the very same tree. When summer came he sent the third son to see the tree. And finally, that fall, he sent the fourth son to see the tree.

Then the wise old king called all the sons together and asked them about the mango tree. The one who went in the winter described the tree and an old stump. The son who went in the spring said that the tree didn't look like an old stump, but that it was a very beautiful green. The third son said that both of the reports were wrong. He was the son who had visited the tree in the summer and he said that the tree was covered over with beautiful blossoms. Finally the fourth son spoke up, the one who had visited the tree during the autumn. He said the tree had fruit which tasted like the finest of all fruits.

After each son had made his report, the father spoke."Each of you has told what you saw. And each of you is right. The difference is that each of you saw the tree at a different season. People are like that mango tree. They are bad and good, and they are ugly and beautiful. You can see them in different seasons. Try to see each person as the last of you saw the mango tree, at its best."

There is so much good in the worst of us,
And so much bad in the best of us,
That it hardly becomes any of us
To talk about the rest of us.
--E.W. Hoch

3 Nephi 14: 2-3

2. For with what judgement ye judge, ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measure to you again.

3. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thin own eye?