Roses and Thorns

Was speaking to a fifteen year old boy, an orphan. He spoke to me of hurt. Why do people hurt someone by word and actions? What do they get from it? I looked at the pain in his eyes and struggled to find an answer. I said to him that one day he would be  grown up and out into world, on his own. What would happen if he had never experienced hurt before that ? Will he be prepared because there will be people who will hurt him. This is inevitable. The world is like that. We spoke of roses and thorns, how they always come together as a package deal. This is Nature's design. That if I want roses, I have to accept the thorns as well. I asked him if he had any roses in his life and he said yes, he did have some. So, I asked him for the sake of those roses, to accept the thorns. For they are there to teach us of pain, to connect us to our inner reservoirs of strength and resilience. Roses have their nature. Thorns have theirs. So along with the  alluring softness of roses, the sharp piercing of thorns needs to be experienced too. Only then we can truly know ourselves for who we are.