By Murtaza Akbari
When I was a child, my grandfather had a beautiful garden. In the summer the garden was full of colors as flowers bloomed and fruit ripened.
Apricots were my favorite, but those trees were so tall that I couldn’t reach the fruit when I was little. So my grandfather would help me grab the fruits, and I would enjoy their amazingly sweet taste. I always thought they tasted better than anything I’d ever eaten because my grandfather took such care of his garden.
I always loved to help my grandfather plant and water his trees, and he would use our time together to teach me how I should plant my own garden in the future when I grew up.
My grandfather and grandmother also taught me it was important to get an education. They wanted me to understand the world around me and be able to solve problems. One of the biggest problems in my home country, Afghanistan, is that people are not knowledgeable, they don’t know how to read and write. The generation before me didn’t go to school because of the war. My own generation got an education because of reforms that didn’t last. Now girls can’t go to school, and the boys don’t have good teachers.
It is summer now; my grandfather’s garden must be blooming. But my grandfather and I aren’t there to enjoy it together. He died, and I left my country to come to America so I could use my education by being a journalist and writing the truth.
But I will carry on my grandfather’s tradition here in my new home. I will continue my education so I can help build a better world, and I will plant a garden to make the land green and useful for the generations to come. And each time I reach up in my garden to grab an apricot, I will remember my grandmother and my grandfather, and the garden where I learned how to become the man I am today.
