I haven’t written in a while. At least, not for me or because of inspiration. A brief comment I made the other day to a friend kept repeating in my mind until I got this down today. The comment was, “Some people grow into you. Some people grow beside you. And some people grow away from you. Like trees. Unless you share roots or work toward the same sun, growing apart will leave a hole.” The response below is philosophic in nature–no pun intended. 😉
People are like trees, their souls inching out in every direction in search of droplets of sunshine, happiness bestowed upon their leaves as a means for life. Some trees grow as one, entwining their long trunks until the two bases become a single body. Others sprout from one base to form two distinct arms, each reaching far from the other in its quest for light. Most trees, however, grow side by side, their branches deftly sweeping past each other like fingers brushing the hair from her cheek or strangers rushing hurriedly past on a crowded street, dipping in and out of the traffic flow and winding toward some desperately desired destination. One branch may yearn toward her neighbor, and find him also leaning. But as they both move toward the sun, his trunk may fail her reach.
Yet these visibly separate trees also touch one another deeply, their sinewy roots twisting forth, determining the placement of every other tree. Each root provides the basis of how the trees will begin and where they will grow. So much lies beneath the surface to shape the visible plants we readily experience. The closest trees make the greatest impact on the foundations of those around them. And still the branches swish this way and that, the leaves blowing in the breeze or breaking in the wind, only to become new again with each warm season. A tree can be broken. It can be buried in snow or shadowed among giants and still find its way to the sun, its joyful solace. Redwood or maple, annual or evergreen, each tree shapes the lives of the trees around it, therefore affecting the entire forest. Likewise, the forest then affects the tree. The air gives it breath, the rain gives it strength, and the sun gives it reason for living on. Two trees may grow together; two others may stretch apart. But each tree dances together in the wind, and each branch searches for life-giving light. It is our want for searching together that makes us human.