Is the tree worth it?

There once was a very old woman who had a peach tree in her backyard.

The peaches were the most delicious peaches in the universe.

She had spent her entire life sitting in the shade of her tree eating delicious peaches.
Every day she would water her tree and check for weeds.

She wanted to share her peach tree with other people before she died. She went to each of her neighbors and gave them a peach seed. She told her neighbors that the fruit of the peach tree was the greatest in the universe.

The Carsons tossed the seed out in the street because they didn't trust the old lady.

The Masons were in a hurry, so they didn't spend time finding a very good spot to plant the seed.

The Blackers found a really spot of ground to plant it in right next to their blackberry bush.

The Robinsons also found a really good spot to plant it in.

Years passed.

The Carsons seed never grew out in the street. It got run over by cars until it was smashed into pieces.

The Masons seed which they had hastily placed in a bad spot of ground actually started to grow for a little while, but since it was in such a rocky area, it ended up shriveling up and dying before it got very tall. They dug up the dead sapling and tossed it in the trash.

The Blackers seed, which was placed in a good spot, started growing really big. But the Blackers blackberry bush that had grown so much that it had started to crowd the peach tree. The work it took to trim back the blackberry bush and water the tree every day eventually became a real bother. They had never tasted how good the peaches were and wondered if they actually might just prefer blackberries anyways. The Tree had been sitting out there producing nothing but work and hassle for years. It was a source of stress for them. They felt like their neighbors were judging them for not trimming back the blackberry bush to give the tree room to produce fruit. Eventually, after a neighbor made a comment about how to get the peach tree to start producing, the Blackers got so frustrated, that they cut the barren tree down and burned it. They felt relieved to have the thing out of their yard and had felt so happy that they no longer had to bother or worry about the expectations of their neighbors any longer. They enjoyed their blackberries and never felt sad because they didn't know what they were missing anyways.

The Robinson family, who also planted the tree in a good spot, had a large tree. They had observed the old Lady enjoying her peaches for years and so they took the tree seriously. They watered it and trimmed it and pulled the weeds. The Robinsons also had a blackberry bush, but they trimmed the bush so that it did not crowd the tree. They made time for it in their lives and space for it in their yard. One year the tree made some peaches. One taste of the peaches and they knew that all of the work was worth it. They spent the rest of their lives eating peaches in the shade of the peach tree. They truly were the most delicious peaches in the universe.

One day the Blackers and the Robinsons were talking in their front yards.

"The tree is not worth it", said the Blackers, all it does it make stress and work and people judge you if you dont take care of it.

The Robinsons answered, "We didnt plant the seed because we merely wanted a barren tree. We planted it because we wanted the fruit. And the fruit is SOOO worth it! It is the most delicious fruit in the universe".

The Robinsons tried to hand a peach to the Blackers-- "no thanks" said the Blackers, convincing themselves of their decision,  "I've already eaten too many blackberries and I'm stuffed".

The tree isn't worth it, but the fruit is.

If you hate your tree, maybe its because you never actually tasted the fruit it can grow if you will just trim the blackberry bush back a little but to give it some room in your yard.