A Rose Within
A certain man planted a rose and watered it faithfully, and before it 
blossomed, he examined it. He saw the bud that would soon blossom and 
also the thorns. And he thought, "How can any beautiful flower come from 
a plant burdened with so many sharp thorns?" Saddened by this thought, 
he neglected to water the rose, and before it was ready to bloom, it 
died.

So it is with many people. Within every soul there is a rose.The God-like 
qualities planted in us at birth grow amid the thorns of our faults. Many 
of us look at ourselves and see only the thorns, the defects. We despair, 
thinking that nothing good can possibly come from us. We neglect to water 
the good within us, and eventually it dies. We never realize our potential.

Some people do not see the rose within themselves; someone else must show 
it to them. One of the greatest gifts a person can possess is to be able 
to reach past the thorns and find the rose within others. This is the 
characteristic of love, to look at a person, and knowing his faults, 
recognize the nobility in his soul, and help him realize that he can 
overcome his faults. If we show him the rose, he will conquer the thorns. 
Then will he blossom, blooming forth thirty, sixty, a hundred-fold as it 
is given to him.

Our duty in this world is to help others by showing them their roses and 
not their thorns. Only then can we achieve the love we should feel 
for each other; only then can we bloom in our own garden. 

~Author Unknown~