Trees

Many moons ago I was writing about something.  I honestly don't remember what.  Look for some post that I mention trees in it.  But I kept writing about trees instead of the matter at hand.  Well, I feel like ranting about trees.  Because I like them.  They're pretty.  And strong.  Good for climbing and shade and are beautiful in both summer and winter.  Not everyone can be described like that.

One of my favorite characters in all of the Lord of the Rings is the Ents.  They are such majestic and tragic characters.  Their Ent-wives have left them to a place no one knows.  The flowers were never quite the same without them.  They are slow to anger, but develop a great and mighty wrath over time.  I find that many people are like Ents, or rather trees in general.

We are ever changing.  From the time we are a sapling we are changing.  Like a tree, for the most part, it is easy to tell what type of tree we will grow up to be.  Tall or short, thin or stout, brittle or flexible, strong or weak.  But most young trees tend to be flexible.  Most old trees tend to be steadfast.  Just like us.  As we age, there are just certain characteristics we tend to take on.  No one can know the worth of a tree until it has come of age.  In youth, all tree serves the same purposes of growing up and filtering the air for their animal counterparts.  But until the tree is older and man or some other animal has need of it, it's purpose and worth cannot be measured.  A maple tree might be kept in a more natural state which it grew up in and be used for saps and syrups or it might travel and in its travels be transformed into timber and then into floors and desks and wardrobes.  An apple tree might never move from the spot it grew up on and produce basic foods for others or it might be tranferred to a factory and be used in the fermentation of beers or the preparation of meats.  A cottonwood might forever plague its neighbors by agitating their allergies and forcing them to do more work in a defense to keep the cottonwoods from spreading to another lawn or it might...I honestly don't know what good cottonwoods can do...I kind find them annoying myself.  But that furthers the point doesn't it, some trees are just annoying and always will be except to those few people who don't have allergic reactions to them.

Another thing about trees is if you spend a great deal of time cultivating them and they don't turn out the way you wanted them to, we are often disappointed.  Apple trees are hard work.  In the 9 years I lived on a farm cultivating apple trees, we only had two harvests worth dealing with.  Other than that, the trees were pretty and annoying obstacles for moving the lawn.  It wasn't until recently that I realized how selfish I was.  Yes, my family did not enjoy the intended fruits of our labors, but we had a beauty all to ourselves and a lazy place to rest our heads in the sun.  When a tree is a sapling, it is hard to identify, but we shouldn't be disappointed when it grows up to be a beech instead of an apple, because we still helped something grow and helped make the world.

Finally, in raising a tree proper, there are a few curiousities I find.  It grows best alone.  When hiking, one often sees groups of two or three trees (or more) growing in a tight little circle.  Sometimes those trees grow together into one conglomeration, but what usually happens is one tree kills the others off in order to survive.  Trees grow best alone, away from their mother tree (I know most tree are hermaphrodites, all except junipers actually, but it's still the mother half that gives birth), in a harsh environment.  There is a reason seeds have a way of getting out into the world.  If they just fell straight down, most older trees would end up killing them.  Except most pine trees, because pine trees require less light, let more light through, and often work together in tight-knit groups to survive fires and winds. (all trees have developed their own communities to survive and grow alone or work together to survive large disasters.  Sounds familar)  Also, when I say harsh environment, I don't mean desert, I mean a place they have to strive to live.  Example, a tree that is watered every day often dies or is uprooted because its roots to not need to search for its own water source to live.  The roots never form a stable foundation so when the winds come the tree fails.  I feel like our roots are our identity.  If we are too sheltered by our friends and family, once a trial comes we are unable to withstand the test.  We have to search for ourselves and decide for ourselves who we are, what we stand for, and what that makes us.  Also, strangely enough, a tree needs to be pruned fairly regularly too.  If not, it becomes a tangled mess of broken branches, lifelessleaves, and catastrophic canopies.  It can't receive light where it needs it.  Well pruning keeps us from getting top heavy.  It keeps our egos in check and our information straight.  It lets us receive light and truth where we need it most, our core leaves or ideas.  If we aren't pruned properly and regularly, we become a mangled mass of knowledge and have no way of expanding in a way that improves ourselves.