this is mr. tree and he wishes me a good day every day on my way to work, and i thank him. some people think i'm crazy for talking to and naming a tree. some people think i am cute & quirky.
this is my favorite tree in the whole wide world. it is somewhere between here and my favorite place in the whole wide world. i never know when it is coming up, i only know it when i see it. some people won't humor me and stop to take a picture. some people will.
the story "the giving tree" by shel silverstein makes some people cry. it doesn't make me cry, but it does make me sad. it makes me sad that that little boy never stopped for a moment to look outside of himself to see what a wonderful gift was being offered to him. it makes me sad that the tree was so selfless that she gave and gave of herself until there was nothing left to give. as often as i read it, and as much as i want that little boy to thank the tree, or perhaps to refuse to cut down her limbs & her trunk, just once, it never happens. what is the lesson shel? to give of yourself freely if you love someone so much, even if that means sacrificing your own happiness to make the one you love happy? to realize what gifts you are being handed and not take them for granted?the best part is the beginning -- the innocent love between a boy and his tree -- but it goes downhill from there when money and life get in the way. why must love and life be so complicated?
... i was talking about trees, wasn't i?
6 comments:
Life and true love should not be complicated. Sometimes though love is disrupted by outside forces who operate on selfish needs and at the expense of many. Anything resulting from this can only be weak and complicated.
Some say that the relationship between the tree and the boy symbolizes the unbalanced relationship between a mother and her child.
Of course, I'm beginning to think that your blog is the tree and "Anonymous" is the boy.
I like the Environmental message too, though it feels so heavy- we humans do seem to take and take. I too read the story expecting the boy to reach an epiphany and plant and care for an apple seedling with all of his being in his older years.
I was thinking about relationships over Thanksgiving- being a certain person to Aunts and Uncles who have seen you grow into the person you are over time punctuated by months or years. It is interesting to see my interaction with them and our mutual understanding of each other change over time. The tree remembers him in his innocent childhood self before life has bent and shaped him.
This is indeed a good message. I worked with a couple friends to make this for my girlfriend at the time - now my first wife.
http://www.sappanari.com/jess/
that's such a beautiful song. first wife, huh?
Well, first and only :P
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