Blog

By the fig tree again, the lesson unfolded in silence before it was spoken.

The summer air was heavy with tension. Emil sat beneath the fig tree, the one place he could think clearly, his eyes fixed on a letter crumpled in his hand. His friend Zayd had been caught cheating on the science exam. Everyone at school was talking about it—some in whispers, others with glee.

Grandfather, sensing the weight Emil carried, joined him quietly. “So,” he said, as he settled on the stone bench, “the world has found a crack in someone’s wall?”

Emil sighed. “It’s not a crack, Grandpa. It’s a collapse. Zayd cheated. The evidence is clear. He admitted it. Everyone’s calling him a liar now.”

“And what are you calling him?” Grandfather asked gently.

Emil hesitated. “I… I don’t know. I’m disappointed. Angry. I trusted him.”

Grandfather nodded. “You’re allowed to feel all of that. But judgment is not about feelings. It’s about what you do with them.”

Emil looked down. “Everyone says he deserves to be shamed. That he should be made an example.”

“Ah,” Grandfather said, “But tell me—when a man falls into a pit, do we shout at him from above, or do we reach down to help him climb out?”

Emil frowned. “But he made the choice to jump in.”

“Yes,” said Grandfather. “And now you have a choice, too. The test of judgment is not in pointing out failure—it’s in deciding what you’ll do when it’s laid bare before you. Will you become a mirror of mercy or a megaphone of shame?”

A fig fell from the tree and landed with a soft thud. Grandfather picked it up and held it out. “If this fig had spoiled, would you crush it further just to prove it was bad? Or would you plant its seed and hope something better could grow?”

Emil stared at the fruit. “But what if he doesn’t want to change?”

“Then your judgment still matters,” Grandfather said. “Because it speaks not just of who he is—but of who you are.”

There was a long silence between them. The wind rustled the fig leaves above.

“I think I’ll talk to him,” Emil said finally. “Not as a judge. Just as a friend.”

Grandfather smiled. “Then your test is passed, not because you had the power to condemn—but the wisdom to care.”