If Only (Jack and His Flower)

There was once a man named Jack. Jack lived in a garden filled with vegetation. Each of the millions of people who lived in the garden were assigned a plant to watch over and care for. Everyone loved their plant, whether it was a tree, a bush, a blade of grass, or a vegetable. But the thing they all admired the most were flowers.

Jack was special. It was Jack’s job to watch over and care for the most magnificent plant in the entire garden. His plant was an enormous flower that could be seen from miles away. Most people say that the flower didn’t even exist until Jack was born- like it was made for him. The flower was made up of a rainbow of bold and brilliant colors. It had the most beautiful aroma anyone had ever smelled. The flower’s roots were so deep that it drank from an abundant supply of water from an underground stream-Jack didn’t even have to water it. It was placed in the garden in such a position that it received the perfect amount of sunlight and the perfect amount of shade, and even stayed in full bloom all year long. The flower was so magnificent that it even glowed in the dark on nights when the moon was out in its splendor.

Everyone in the garden would have done just about anything to tend to this flower. Even though they loved their plants, they would be lying if they said they never secretly dreamed about just watching Jack’s flower for hours. All Jack needed in life to be abundantly happy was to just sit and be with the flower and enjoy its multifaceted beauty. And all the flower needed from Jack was for him to take pleasure in being with her.

The flower burst forth offspring in the fertile ground around Jack’s corner of the garden. The amount of beauty and perfection that had been planted all around him was unfathomable. Jack’s life was basically perfect. He had been given a family- the most beautiful family he could have ever imagined. Life should have been good- very good.

But Jack had something in his heart that told him that he deserved better; that he needed more than just the most beautiful flower on earth and her offspring. He loved the flower and had no desire to tend to any other plants, but he began to spend less and time with his flower family in pursuit of something more fulfilling than what he had been given.

He poured his energy into tending fertile soil that had not yet been seeded. He worked vigorously rerouting streams and rivers to portions of the garden that had no need for irrigation. He began to write books about how to tend a flower. He scheduled as many meetings as he could with other gardeners to tell them about how good he was at tending flowers and how hard of a worker he was. He even ran for the position of head gardener and won.

Yes! Jack was busy! Jack was feeling quite good about himself. After all, he had won the respect of everyone in the garden- all because of his hard work- or so he thought. You see, people looked up to Jack, not because he was a hard worker or a phenomenal gardner, but because he had the most beautiful flower in the garden. And the more and more busy Jack become, the more and more recognition he gained, and the more and more his ego grew; the more and more his flower began to wither and die along with all of her offspring.

Jack saw the poor condition of his flower and her offspring. Day after day he looked at it as he left his portion of the garden for his busy work. But Jack didn’t have time to tend to them! He was a busy man and people needed him! His flower and her offspring would be fine- after all, they had Jack as their gardner.

One day, a trusted friend of Jack was walking by his portion of the garden when he noticed that Jack’s flower wasn’t so beautiful anymore. She was nearly withered to the point of death. Her offspring were suffering as well; their once vibrant petals littering the now dry soil at the base of their stems. Jack’s friend ran to warn him, but Jack didn’t care- he shrugged it off and blamed their condition on his flower’s unstable emotions.

Jack’s friend began to tell others about his flower, and Jack began to lose all the respect that he once had. Jack started to realize that his notoriety was based, not on his hard work, but on his beautiful flower. When Jack realized that, and how he had horribly neglected them, he ran back to his portion of the garden to take pleasure in his beautiful flower and her offspring in order to rejuvenate their health, restore their symbiotic relationship, and bring back his respect amongst the other gardeners.

But when Jack arrived, it was too late. His beautiful magical flower lay limp on the ground, and her offspring all bowed down dead on the ground facing towards their mother. Jack wept aloud and wished that he only would have seen how perfect his life was! If only he has paid attention to the one thing that was supposed to be the object of his affection. If only he wouldn’t have tried to pursue so many other things that he now finds meaningless…if only.