There is a beautiful thought that I saw from Rabbi Asher Balanson, a big Talmid Chochom, who lives in Telz Stone.

                 He tells of a story about Rabbi Naftali Amsterdam, a prime talmid of Rabbi Yisroel Salanter.

                  Rav Naftali told Rabbi Yisroel Salanter, “If only I had the head of the “Shaagas Aryeh”-a famous Torah genius, the heart of the “Yesod Veshoresh Ha’avodah-who was famous for his fiery,emotional avodah [service to Hashem],  and the middos [characteristic traits] of the Rebbi-Rav Yisroel Salanter’s midos were legendary, then I could be a good oved (server of) Hashem.”

                  Rav Yisroel responded, “Naftali, Naftali, with YOUR HEAD, with YOUR HEART, and with YOUR MIDDOS you can also a be a true oved Hashem 100%.

                  Rabbi Balanson points out how many times do we reflect on our own situation. We see only failures, problems, difficulties, and bad middos and we get depressed, ready to give up. We undertake certain projects on improvement and give up before we even start. We are totally convinced that we will never be able to accomplish anything of significance. We are certain that if only we could change this midah-characteristic trait or that deficiency, then everything would go smoothly. But, the way we are now, we will never be able to get to any important level of avodas-serving  Hashem.

                  He then describes a cartoon that one of his students drew that had a very special message.

                  It depicted a young child with a very tough look on his face. The caption read, “ I KNOW THAT I’M VERY SPECIAL, BECAUSE G-D DON’T MAKE JUNK.”  How very very true this is.

                  Rav Shlomo Wolbe, ztl. says that we have to realize that we are totally and completely unique. From the time of Adam Harishon until now, there has never been anyone exactly like you and there will never be in the future. You have a unique mixture of good midos and bad midos which will never be exactly repeated in anybody else. Each of us has a unique purpose in life. We have things to accomplish that NOBODY ELSE in the entire world can do instead of us. And, Hashem has given us the tools to accomplish what we have to accomplish.

                  So, when we look in the mirror we have to think, “With MY HEAD, MY HEART, and MY MIDDOS I can accomplish whatever I have to accomplish. I’m very important, because I am unique. I can do it.”

                 We should always remember that “G-D DON’T MAKE JUNK.” 

 Rabbi learns this lesson from Tu-BiShevat- the 15^th day of the Jewish month Shevat which is called “the New Year for trees.”

                   He points out  that this time of year is still in the middle of the winter and the budding will only begin much later, so why is this the new year for trees?

                    He answers,  “Rashi in the Gemoro explains that at this time the sap of the trees has already risen and therefore the fruit are already potentially ready and will be able to come out later on at the proper time.

                     We see here that even though the fruit has not appeared yet, even the buds haven’t started flowering, nonetheless, we consider it as if the new year has already begun. All this is because the sap has risen, and in the sap is stored the inner strength of the trees.

                      This means that on Tu BiShevat we go out into the orchard and we see a tree. The tree is barren, the flowers haven’t budded, and the fruit hasn’t begun to grow yet. However, this is only on the outside of the tree. On the inside, the tree has already begun its new year-the tree has already begun the process which will result in new flowers and new fruit. It is this inner process which is the important one and not its external manifestations.

                      This ought to teach us strong mussar on how we must act towards people that we meet. How many times do we pay attention just to the outside of the person and not the inside? How many times do we pay attention only to the person’s body and his clothes, but not to his neshama? The person standing in front of us can appear barren without any fruits or flowers but, if we look deeper inside, we can discover that this is not the truth. There is an inner strength in the person that, when tapped, can bring forth very special flowers and fruit. And, just as in the case of the tree, if we were to see that the tree is bare and decide not to water the tree and not to take care of it, the fruit would not come out. Similarly, if we don’t take care of the person in front of us, his fruits will also not come out.

          This idea is particularly important to those of us who are involved in education. How many times do we have a student in class who causes trouble, who seems not to care, who seems not to want to succeed? In short, a student who seems barren and who won’t give any fruit? But who knows what is inside the student? Perhaps their sap has already risen and is ready and waiting for someone to extend that helping hand and assist him to bring forth his fruit.”