I like you just the way you are

Watching television last night with Mrs,  Kadizzle saw a show on Mr. Rodgers.  Mr. Rodgers is dead, but a person who used to be on his show became emotional when he talked about the time Mr. Rodgers told him " I like you just the way you are".   The man happened to be a black man.  At that moment it sunk into the man how Mr. Rodgers was doing something good for children.  When you sit back and ponder that idea it has power.   How many people want you to be something else.  If you really put your mind to it you realize your friends are the ones who " like you the way you are".  They don't want you to be something different.  What would it be like if everyone was what you wanted them to be?  It would be pretty scary when you think about it.  On the other hand we spend so much of our life trying to change people into what we want them to be.  First comes our children.  Soon we realize once you plant a seed you have little hope of turning a carrot into a tomato.  You can weed it, you can fertilize it, but you cannot turn it into a tomato.  Once you accept you have a carrot, the trick is to enjoy your carrot.  So what is the moral of the story?  Maybe it is don't try to change people, try to cultivate them.  Let them change themselves if they want.  You can give them ideas, or point them in certain directions, but carrots will be carrots,  and tomatoes will be tomatoes.  In either case you have to protect them from the weeds.