Once a Mighty Oak

A Metaphor of Thought to be pondered.  The true and pure individual can comprehend without grandiose and see, this is all, this is we, no solidarity blame be.

My minds-eye is resting upon a stoop, as I do ever-so often, watching the birds fly by; savoring the beauty of their grace in flight.  Rabbits scurry among the rich clover and the breeze blows the wheat in the fields across the dusty road in front of my secret mental place nestled in the rural countryside.  I close my eyes and vividly recall the mighty oak that once sat centered between the two fields, strong, tall and in its grandeur once graced the skyline with her broad branches and lush green leaves.  She was one tree but trunk split as to appear to be two individual trees stemming from one earthen source. Then I open my eyes and am drawn back into reality.

I see that same tree, not so mighty, scarce are the leaves that grow on the eastern side, yet the side on the west still blooms, yet struggles to grow beyond the fragile limbs that sway in the summer breeze.  How can this be?  How can something that once was so grand, so strong, wither to near nothingness between two fields of capable nourishment?  I set out on a quest to unearth the mystery that lie in front of me in a disheartening state of inevitable demise.

I started my quest by inquiring the ownership of the tree, to discover, it was a gift from nature that separated the two fields, of which had individual owners.  The farmer to the east possessed his land first, shortly followed by the farmer to the west.  Each of them, cherishing the beauty of the tree, and wanting to possess it as their own.  The tree, her only task was to answer mother earth’s call, to grow to bloom and to give back to nature the splendor that was bestowed upon her.  Although the tree belonged to neither, in all rights, the farmer to the east felt because he was there first, he would sway the tree to grow in his direction, and tethered restraints to sway her to grow in his direction as she blossomed into a mature mighty stature among nature.

The farmer to the west understood, and wanted to share the beauty of her duplex massiveness that would one day be, and offered solution.  He fertilized the roots upon the western side, and offered this yielded richness to the farmer on the east, who took offense to his skill. Claiming to himself, in his grandiose stance, he took aim to damage the very roots by means vindictiveness and an axe he harmed the tree on the western side, hoping the failure, would wound the view from the west, and cause only the eastern side to grow and flourish where he may benefit.  In this state of grandiose, felt he was right in his actions, not realizing the roots were intermingled, and in his destruction, harmed the beauty of the one tree as a whole.

The tree still blooms, despite her roots failing and unable to sustain much life.  She doth still spread her flourishment in the wind, yet now the winds hear her pain and blow her seed towards no field, but to the heavens, pleading for lightning from the clouds to set her ablaze, and relieve the struggle.  This doth not happen.

So she stands, farmer to the east gloating, feeling he has won, since she still blooms, not caring the destruction he has caused,  is not visible to the naked eye.  The farmer to the west, cannot comprehend the volatility of the farmer to the east until he inquires of the fields previously owned, by this farmer were lush, but in haste to exploit his skill did over harvest and destroy those fields and moved on.

The tree, she still stands, and in her state of withering and pain, she knows, she fights for the new bloom in spring, and when the winds set upon her, and seed rise can it carry her between the east and west and the splendor of both be enjoyed?  Or shall she beg once more to nature, and have the winds carry her south?

I open my eyes once again.  I see.  The tree, so much becomes like mankind. It could be you, it could be me.  We find it hard to share all the good that is to be offered, without finding the flaws in one another.  We fight to be the one who has ownership, and do not even realize we have made it our obsession, our goal our conquest to be the sole owner.  There will always be one offering help to another  and share in the best of splendor and one finding they are above help.  They seek out a hidden purpose for the kindness, because deep inside they know, themselves are guilty of the same.  In this action, not realizing they treat life’s gifts as a conquest to be owned as priority to them; the very thing they despise in another.  In one’s exaggerated sense of self-importance, they seek to find someone to blame, and cannot look into the mirror and find where their fault is, and that everyone is without perfection.

We all want the best of nature, and the grandest of “trees”, the greatest of things in life, as we feel entitled, but do not realize, it comes purely, and when we seek to damage the root of existence, and prepare to and then blame the demise on others, we have failed to realize, we were just as wrong, we are not without flaw.

Just as the tree is not without flaw, who planted its seed among two fields,  then split itself, would have been better off growing in a park on the south lawn of uncharted land.  We make mistakes, whether we take responsibility, and not lay blame, we fertilize and create blooms, instead of withering to nothingness. The tree knows her  growth and knows her demise, and knows that nature offers opportunity for re-bloom, yet knows not the direction of the wind without pain.

Thought:  Judging the flaws of others, not only exposes theirs, but shows the world our own as well.  Ti’s better to be a farmer who sows the seed of silent success, than the farmer who plants the seed of discontent and loses the harvest, through bitter action. 

©Copyright protected 2013: JD, NWU Local 1981

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