Molly C.

On a quiet city street lined with ancient oaks and magnolias, there was a small brownstone with a window box in its first floor window, with flowers that perfumed the warm summer air. However, the elegantly carved ceramic held some unpleasant things; it was home to the tulips. They were beautiful, with green stems that reached towards the sunlight, leaves that dripped dew pearls in the wee hours of the morning, roots that stretched far down into the dirt below them, and petals were simply gorgeous, red and purple and pink, glowing like jewels and dainty as a butterfly. They were the prize of the garden, lording over all else, for they had won many nature shows with their grandeur. Yet behind all that lovely beauty was a nasty temper, and these tulips were the vainest of all the plants. When the sun shone in the sky, they bathed in the light, exclaiming that their petals had never looked more beautiful. On rainy days, they shouted words of loathing at the water that dulled their glowing colors and turned the world so gray. But through all this, the herbs in the next box over did not complain. Though the pollution filled their leaves on some days, and water covered their stems, they did not say a word, and merely kept growing. The tulips were astonished that they did not care about the stormy weather at all, and always marveled at the little plants during these rainy days. Finally, one brave and extremely pretty tulip by the name of Gleam couldn’t hold in her curiosity.

“How do you not shy away from these terrible storms that dull the world?” she asked, purple petals dripping with water. “ You do not complain, just sit here and do nothing about it!” The herbs in the little bed did not talk, but Gleam continued to stare at them. Eventually, a little ginger plant named Bo spoke up. “We do not say anything because it does not matter.” she said. Gleam giggled. “Doesn’t matter?” She repeated incredulously, leaves rustling. “It most certainly does matter! What is the point of having no beauty? Beauty is everything in this world. We are famous because of our beauty!” she exclaimed. The other tulips nodded their brilliant heads. “I do not need to be vain about such trivial things because I am useful!” Bo retorted. The tulips laughed and laughed, shaking the drops from their petals. They scorned the little herbs with their green leaves. “You, useful?” the tulips asked, shaking their heads. “You are not useful! What would you even be used for? There is no need for you to be vain, because you have nothing to be vain about! You have no color, from your roots to your leaves. You are not worth a thing!” The herbs did not respond, and only shrunk lower into their beds, ashamed, but Bo did not. “ You just wait and see!” She yelled at the tulips. “You will see just how useful we are.”

The next few months were mostly uneventful in the two window boxes. The tulips preened and fluffed up their petals, and the herbs slowly grew taller, but never more colorful. However, they kept up their argument about how useful they were, and though the tulips did not believe them, the herbs held the fact in their hearts and knew it to be true. The late spring turned into summer, and the block got more and more colorful, always filled with the laughter and chatter of the people who lived on it. There were block parties and birthday parties, festivals and more, for this was a very popular area, and so people came from all over the little city to join in the festivities. Nevertheless, over time, the parties got more and more spread apart, and the block began to lose its color. The laughter gradually faded to a whisper, and soon the block was returned to its former quiet state. The only sounds were the wind whistling through the green leaves that were slowly turning orange and reddish, and the occasional person walking down the sidewalk, footsteps echoing down the street.

Bo and the other herbs began to get excited. They would talk more, and did not hide in the bottom of their bed any longer, stretching out into the fading summer’s sunlight. The flowers were once more confused. It was Gleam who voiced their questions. “Why are you so cheerful now?” she asked. “You never used to act this way.” The herbs giggled and rolled their eyes at the tulips. “Because the harvest is coming, obviously!” Bo declared with a grin. “Soon we shall be picked! It is what we have been waiting for since we were seeds.” “Picked? Whatever for?” Gleam asked, bewildered. “I mean, as we are the most beautiful, I guess we will be picked first. ” She added as a lofty afterthought. “No, we will, because we are useful.” Bo retorted for all the herbs to hear, and they laughed again. However, the topic was soon forgotten, and the plants went back to their separate lives.

About a week later, though, footsteps could be heard inside the house, coming towards the window. The large glass pane was creaked open, and a hand shot out, grabbing Bo and pulling her inside. Everyone in the beds gasped, but as the flowers recoiled in horror at the giant fingers, the herbs leaned forward excitedly. “Is this being picked?” exclaimed another tulip, but the other bed was silent. All heads turned to the herbs- or what had used to be the herbs. What had been a green bed full of homely little plants was now a box with nothing but dirt inside. The glass squeaked and creaked down, shutting with a bang- locking all the flowers outside. They screamed and sobbed, but the window did not reopen. For Bo had been right- the harvest was over, and none of the flowers had been picked.

My allegory is about the immorality of judging others by appearances. The tulips represent the ones that judge- whoever they might be. The herbs represent the ones who are being judged based on appearances, and their usefulness in remedies symbolizes how it is what is on the inside that counts, not beauty or any other external quality. The person that picks the herbs represents opportunities. Being judgemental will not get you anywhere in life, and how just focusing on your external qualities will not help you very much. You have to be open minded. It is the herbs who got the best opportunity because of their good attitude towards life.