Meaning:
An adage to encourage us to think long-term and look after future generations.
Background:
Pear trees are very slow growing.
Pear trees, especially the old English varieties that would have been the
subject of this proverb, take many years to mature and give fruit. You don't
plant them for yourself but for your heirs.
The full version of the phrase, which is a 17th century English proverb, is:
Walnuts and pears you plant for your heirs.
The sense of the altruistic nature of tree planting was also expressed by
Thomas Fuller in his work Gnomologia: A Collection of the Proverbs, Maxims
and Adages That Inspired Benjamin Franklin and Poor Richard's Almanack, 1732:
"He that plants trees loves others beside himself."
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
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It must be rare in this fast-changing world to plant pears for heirs but the
idea of leaving a legacy is as perennial as the grass. One of my ancestors, on
dad's side, came from a long line of landowners in Peking suburbs but the family
fortune snapped as he turned to opium and blew his inheritance. His children
were bitter, but not for long. The bereft heirs were classified as lower-middle
peasants when New China swept along and their families sailed unscathed
through the horrors of the 50s and 60s. They were genuinely thankful when they
told us grandkids their stories. Their luck sounded gratuitous and no one could
answer my questions: "Did he plan it? Did he see what's coming down the pike?"
