I don’t know who wrote this … but I’m glad they did:

When we plant a rose seed in the earth, we notice that it is small, but we do not criticize it as “rootless and stemless”.  We treat it as a seed, giving it the water and nourishment required of a seed.  When it first shoots up out of the earth, we don’t condemn it as immature and underdeveloped.  Nor do we criticize the buds for not being open when they appear.  We stand in wonder at the process taking place and give the plant the care it needs at each stage of its development.

The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies.  Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential.  It seems to be constantly in the process of change.  Yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.

What is beautiful?  Only the sixth picture?  No.

What is young?  Only the first three pictures?  No.

What is red?  Only the fourth, fifth and sixth pictures?  No.

And there is one more image to consider, which also encompasses it all:

I see you, whether you’re 10 or 90.  I feel your heart.  I know your yearnings.  I know your sorrows.

For you and I are one in our redness