Thursday, May 6, 2010

When you feel like giving up on someone, there is a second chance.


I have this jasmine shrub in my garden for over three years now, and it barely flowered. Despite regular care, manuring, putting it in a larger container, changing spots - it didn't seem to do well. It was blighted, the leaves would wilt and fall with no sign of recovery for good three years. We didn't know what we were dealing with. Disappointed, we decided to get rid of it last autumn to put the container to better use. We soaked the shrub to wrench it out of the pot but it didn't budge, troweled to scrape off the roots sticking to the sides and tried yanking it out again. Having failed, we brutally chopped off the shrub (about 3 inches is all that remained) and planted some cuttings into the same pot. Seven months since then, it shriveled and we were reasonably sure that it was finished until one morning in early April. The stem sprouted sending off shoots in all directions. I was amazed. In the middle of scorching summers (111 F), it grew sparkling waxy green large leaves, long branches and restored itself into a healthy bright shrub when the other plants begun to wilt in the heat. In blistering May, it started flowering profusely like never before. It's incredible.

Moral of the story: Don't give up on those who let you down. Don't stop hoping for a change.

"Don't give up when you still have something to give.
Nothing is really over until the moment you stop trying." -Nancye Sims