While the springtime of youth is colorful with love, the springtime of the elderly has a deeper meaning with joy and sadness. Spring belongs to both the young and the old, and through life’s various experiences and emotions, we live a richer life. In the end, spring is something that blooms in our hearts, and we should cherish every moment and live faithfully.
The spring of youth singing about love is a colorful and brilliant spring, but the spring of looking at it and feeling it is the endless spring of life. Who says that spring belongs to the young and not to the old? The spring of the young is a spring of many layers of joy, but the spring of the old is a spring of many layers of both joy and sorrow.
The spring of youth is itself full of hope and possibility. Meeting loved ones, taking on new challenges, and pursuing dreams are all part of the colorful springtime of youth. Failure is not something to be feared during this time. Rather, it’s a time when we believe that we can learn from our mistakes and grow even more. Therefore, the spring of youth is always bright and energetic.
On the other hand, the spring of the old man is a season when the many experiences and emotions of life are layered on top of each other. The past is a precious asset, and the past is like a lake full of waves, ponding and pooling to form today, and today is separate from the past, just as the lake is separate from the water.
You don’t have to be sad that you won’t be able to see many more springs because you’re old. You should be proud of the fact that you’ve had so many spring seasons. When you climb a mountain or walk a long way, there are times when you look back after ten or twenty miles and think, “I’ve walked that far,” and you feel happy and proud. And there are times when you look back and realize that the view is even more beautiful than when you walked. It’s sad when you can’t find a single pearl in your memories, but only grains of sand. My past always makes my present sad.
In front of the courtyard stands a single persimmon tree. At the end of its eastern branches, a green shoot is beginning to emerge. Even the thick branches are bursting with green life. The leaves will spread, the flowers will bloom, and the fruit will bear. Everyone in the house is excited. But there is no news from the western branches. Half of the tree is dead. Spring cannot come to dead branches. Last winter, when all the leaves fell off the trees and only the black stilts remained, I wondered if they were dead, and I believed that they would come back to life in the spring. But I didn’t think it was possible to have one living and one dead on the same tree. However, in the blizzard cold, one branch had survived the winter, nurturing life, and the other had not. For three wintry months, a pitiful resistance within the heart. And the struggle and perseverance, which I do not know, for which I have infinite respect and admiration.
Just as we can see life and death in a single tree, we must accept that hope and despair coexist in life. Therefore, the Old Man’s Spring is not just a change of season, but a deep reflection and philosophy of life. The mindset of this spring is different from the spring of youth. It’s no longer about running straight ahead, but about stopping, looking around, reflecting on the path you’ve taken, and slowly planning the way forward.
When spring comes, it is the sorrow of the year-long insect that mourns the absence of spring. A chaplain has ten springs for ten springs, and a hundred autumns for a hundred autumns.
Depending on your life, you may have all the springs of a billion years of human history in your body, and depending on your thoughts, you may have only a few days of unforgettable spring. Therefore, it is not precious to stay in the world for a long time and see spring many times, but it is not unreasonable to feel spring as spring, to recall all the springs that have passed, and to recall the past without losing the past, which will enrich our lives.
Just as trees sprout on the road to spring, our minds should be ready for new beginnings. Even if our bodies grow old, we should always keep our minds as vibrant as a green spring day. With this mindset, we can truly enjoy the spring of life, reflecting on the years that have passed and gaining wisdom and experience from them, we can prepare to face a better tomorrow. Spring, after all, is something that blooms in our hearts.
Life is a constant series of springs. After today’s spring, another spring will come, and in that spring, we will develop new hopes and dreams. Therefore, it is important to cherish this spring, look forward to the next one, and enrich our lives. I hope that everyone who welcomes spring will realize this truth and live each moment to the fullest.
