“What are you planting?” the man asked his neighbour.
“Mango trees,” replied the neighbour.
“Do you expect to eat their fruit in your lifetime?”
“It occurred to me the other day,” said the neighbour, “that all my life I have been eating the fruit of trees that someone else has planted. So I decided to plant some trees myself, so that in future others may experience the same joy that I have. This is my way of expressing my gratitude to those who have contributed to my enjoyment of life.”
More stories in The Holy Cat: Sufi and Other Stories, by M Yawar Baig
A postage stamps set (2018) of fruit trees of Niue, a self-governing island country in free association with New Zealand, situated in the South Pacific Ocean as a part of Polynesia. Image courtesy: https://thejoyofstamps.com/