Respect the efforts of a flower

　　As we passed the small garden near our house after picking my daughter up from school, she pointed to an azalea in the flowerbed and excitedly exclaimed, "Mommy, look! That flower is even bigger!" I followed her finger and saw about ten bright red flowers on the azalea. Which one was she referring to? "It's the second one on the third branch! I named it Tingting. The one to Tingting's left is called Xiaoyu, and the one to her right is called Xiaoli. And the ones above..." My daughter ran to the azalea and pointed to each flower, telling me their names.

　　Seeing how knowledgeable she was, I couldn't help but laugh. "Aren't all these flowers the same? I didn't know they had different names!" "How could they be the same?" My daughter straightened up and said seriously, "Although they are all azaleas, they look completely different. You just haven't noticed the differences." As she spoke, she pulled me down to squat down and explained their individual characteristics to me. And you know what? These flowers really are different. Some are darker in color, some are lighter; some have more petals, some have fewer; some have larger leaves, some have smaller leaves… My daughter laughed happily, “Yes, if you get them mixed up, the flowers will be unhappy. For example, Tingting, it tries so hard to bloom bigger, and then you say, ‘I can’t tell, I can’t see it,’ how sad it would be!”

　　My daughter’s words suddenly touched my heart, and I nodded with deep feeling. I suddenly thought of my friend Xiaoyuan, a woman as clear and innocent as a child. My acquaintance with Xiaoyuan stemmed from a business collaboration. One afternoon during the negotiations, after the work was finished, we, having nothing to do, decided to go shopping together.

　　As we walked along a pedestrian street, Xiaoyuan casually remarked, "That cleaner was so meticulous with her work, and she had such a kind face, especially those bright, expressive eyes. She must have been even more beautiful when she was younger." Xiaoyuan's description left me speechless. Just now, I seemed to have seen two or three cleaners sweeping, but I hadn't paid any attention to which one was more meticulous, let alone noticed who had such beautiful eyes. In fact, to me, these cleaners in their identical uniforms didn't seem any different; perhaps they even looked similar.

　　“No, they are definitely different, you just haven’t seen it, and maybe most of us haven’t either,” Xiaoyuan said with a smile, waving her hand. “But I really enjoy observing them, including taxi drivers, street vendors, and so on. They all have their own unique characteristics. Sometimes, I can’t help but tell them how I feel about them.” Seeing me nod, Xiaoyuan continued, “They are all the most ordinary and unremarkable people. Maybe they won’t achieve anything great in their lives, or reach the so-called success in the eyes of the world, but they still work hard in their own positions, and they also need the recognition and respect of others!”

　　As Xiaoyuan slowly spoke these words, I saw the gentle expression on her face and the light shining in her eyes. At that moment, I felt that Xiaoyuan was the most beautiful woman I had ever met, and I firmly believed that cooperating with her would be reliable and pleasant.

　　In fact, in the eyes of many of us, some extremely ordinary and unremarkable people are like the small flowers and grasses in nature, almost indistinguishable. But as Xiaoyuan said, maybe they will remain ordinary for their entire lives, but they also have their own persistence and dreams. Therefore, we should have respect for the efforts of a flower or a blade of grass.