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 saw 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