The legend of el Ombú
Parables and Illustrations for Values Education |
God distributed his gifts to the trees and they chose the attributes of beauty who wished to.
-I want to be strong - he said the Linnet. And God made harder than stone.
-My ideal is to be healthy - he said the Acerola and Dios pleased him.
Wheat awarded Dios the flexibility of the verse. Laurel claimed dark and shiny leaves. Melissa was filled with scented leaves. Naranjo called sweet fruits. The ceiba is decorated with beautiful red flowers. The cactus called knots and thorns and brightly coloured flowers. To the weeping willow God gave him the poetry. The Palm was the elegance of height. The lemon tree called nails and Golden fruits. The pringamosa got to punish anyone who dared to touch. The canabrava requested to be useful to help the man to build houses and make smile to the children as their flasks frame. It was the turn of the ombu and Dios asked:
-What would be you?
And he answered:
-Shade for the rest of the men.
-All have shadow - told her God - what else would they be?
-Girth to be index in the vastness of the plain, so that when I look at them to feel the emotion of the home. I want my lena to be weak, spongy and brittle; that it does not resist a nail or an Assembly, which break under pressure. That become dust to the contact of the Sun and the moon.
God was surprised with the wishes of the ombu and asked:
-Why not ask colorful flowers and tasty fruits? Don't want a wood is to make the cradle of the child, the boat for the trip, the coffin for the last break?
-Father, I know that once came to the world a good man who preached love, justice, and good. The other men pursued him, condemned and sacrificed on a cross, made with the pain of some brother tree. There are still dreamers in the land. Let me happy by giving me what I ask: will have the opportunity to have conscience thinking that I will never contribute to the crime of murdering a fair.
(Free adaptation of a text of Montiel crossbowman)
Behind apparent weaknesses, strong, sensitive, generous spirits are frequently hidden. In the midst of diversity, we choose what we want to be. It helps each student to be, to choose a life with meaning and significance. Do not try to standardize the students. Each one is different and equally wonderful. Diversity is wealth. Live and teach them to live respecting and embracing the differences (race, gender, social, physical...) without ever becoming them inequalities.
It discovers and helps to discover the value of the fragility of the delicacy, simplicity.
The important thing is that everyone live their being fully:
If you can't be pine at the Summit of a hill, I know Bush in the Valley, but I know the best Bush aside from the acequia. I know bouquet if you can not be a tree, and if you can't be bouquet, know a little grass and pint of beauty and joy some path. If you can't be road, I know path. If you can be Sun, be a star. The important thing is not the size, strength, brightness, but how to live what one is.