In a garden filled with bushes, out from between a load of grass and weeds, there appeared, as if from nowhere, a white rose. It was as white as driven snow, its petals looked like velvet, and the morning dew shone from its leaves like resplendent crystals. The flower couldn’t see herself, so she had no idea how pretty she was. And so it was that she spent the few days of her life, until wilting set on, without knowing that all around her were amazed by her and her perfection: her perfume, the softness of her petals, her elegance. She didn’t realise that everyone who saw her spoke well of her. The weeds that surrounded her were fascinated by her beauty, and lived in a state of enchantment at her aroma and appearance.

One hot, sunny day, a girl was strolling through the garden, thinking about how many lovely things Mother Nature has given us, when she suddenly saw a white rose in a forgotten part of the garden. The rose was beginning to fade and wilt.

-“It’s days since it rained,”

she thought,

-“if the rose stays here till tomorrow it'll be totally withered. I’ll take it home and put it in the lovely vase I got as a present.”

And so she did. With all her love she put the wilting white rose in water, inside a lovely colourful glass vase, and placed it by the window.

-"I'll put it here,"

she thought,

-"so the flower can get some sun."

What the young girl didn’t realise was that the reflection from the window meant that, for the first time, the rose got to see herself and what she looked like.

-“Is that me?”

thought the rose. Little by little her drooping leaves began to rise, once again stretching up towards the sun, and, gradually, the rose recovered her former appearance. When she was totally back to her best she looked at her reflection and saw that she was indeed a beautiful flower. She thought

-"Wow! Till now I hadn’t realised who I was, how could I have been so blind?”

The rose came to realise she had spent her days without appreciating her beauty, unable to see herself, unable to know who she really was.

If you really want to know who you are, forget everything that’s around you, and just look into your heart.

* * *
This story is a collaboration with Rosa Maria Roe