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Friendship

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One family, which had emigrated from Japan

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and settled at the turn of the century near San Francisco,

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had established a business in which they grew roses

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and trucked them into San Francisco three mornings a week.

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The other family was a naturalized family from Switzerland who also marketed roses,

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and both families became modestly successful,

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as their roses were known in the markets of San Francisco for their long vase-life.

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For almost four decades the two families were neighbors,

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and the sons took over the farms,

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but then on December 7, 1941,

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Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.

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Although the rest of the family members were Americans,

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the father of the Japanese family had never been naturalized.

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As they planned to leave the country, his neighbor made it clear that,

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if necessary, he would look after his friend's nursery.

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It was something each family had learned in church:

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Love thy neighbor as thyself.

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“You would do the same for us,”

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he told his Japanese friend.

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It was not long before the Japanese family

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was transported to a barren landscape in Canada.

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A full year went by. Then two. Then three.

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While the Japanese neighbors were in Canada,

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their friends worked in the greenhouses,

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the children worked before school and on Saturdays,

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and the father's work often stretched to 16 and 17 hours a day.

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And then one day, when the war in Europe had ended,

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the Japanese family packed up and boarded a train.

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They were going home.

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What would they find?

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The family was met at the train station by their neighbors,

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and when they got to their home, the whole Japanese family stared.

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There was the nursery, intact, scrubbed and shining in the sunlight —

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neat, prosperous and healthy.

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And the house was just as clean and welcoming as the nursery.

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And there on the dining room was one perfect red rosebud,

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just waiting to unfold — the gift of one neighbor to another.