This is my child. I planted it. I saw it grow. I loved it. Don't cut it down.
Interpretation
The speaker expresses deep affection and attachment to something they nurtured and developed, pleading for its preservation.
In this quote, R.K. Narayan conveys a profound sense of connection and love towards something that has been cared for and cultivated over time. The imagery of planting and watching it grow symbolizes a nurturing relationship, whether it be with a loved one, a project, or a dream. The plea to 'not cut it down' highlights the vulnerability of what one has cherished and the emotional pain that comes with loss.
In practice
During a speech about community gardening, one might say this quote to emphasize the importance of nurturing the environment.
We come together only to go apart again. The law of life can't be avoided. The law comes into operation the moment we detach ourselves from our mother's womb. All struggle & misery in life is due to our attempt to arrest this law or get away from it or in allowing ourselves to be hurt by it. The fact must be recognized. A profound unmitigated loneliness is the only truth of life. All else is false. The law of life. No sense in battling against it.
There is enough love and good will in our movement to give energy to our struggle and still have plenty left over to break down and change the climate of hate and fear around us.
Then Aragorn stooped and looked in her face, and it was indeed white as a lily, cold as frost, and hard as graven stone. But he bent and kissed her on the brow, and called her softly, saying: 'Éowyn Éomund's daughter, awake! For your enemy has passed away!' - Aragorn & Éowyn
My story starts at sea... a perilous voyage to an unknown land... a shipwreck... The wild waters roar and heave... The brave vessel is dashed all to pieces, and all the helpless souls within her drowned... all save one... a lady... whose soul is greater than the ocean... and her spirit stronger than the sea's embrace... Not for her a watery end, but a new life beginning on a stranger shore. It will be a love story... for she will be my heroine for all time. And her name will be... Viola.
Jesus did not always like the Apostles' way of acting, but by adapting himself to their temperament, praying for them to his father, giving them a holy example of conduct, he loved them, and that love changed them.
Conceit, more rich in matter than in words, _x000D_ Brags of his substance, not of ornament: _x000D_ They are but beggars that can count their worth; _x000D_ But my true love is grown to such excess, _x000D_ I cannot sum up half my sum of wealth.
But strictly held by none, is loosely bound By countless silken ties of love and thought To everything on earth the compass round, And only by one's going slightly taut In the capriciousness of summer air Is of the slightest bondage made aware.
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