My garden houses 3 huge trees amongst other smaller greenery adorning other sections of the garden. The trees have been there probably for more than 20 years. I suspect they are older than that. These are what I’ve learnt so far from their unspoken teachings.
1. Respect the elders.
Granted, the trees aren’t exactly mobile. If they can uproot themselves and move, I’d call them Ents! Either way, there are a few instances when I resent collecting all the dry leaves. They are never-ending and they just keep falling daily. I had almost wanted to suggest to my dad to chop off the trees and voila, no more dry leaves! But I didn’t. But it is the truth when I say you do get rather jaded and lazy with just collecting the dry leaves every 3 days just to keep the garden clean. Thinking back, I’m not exactly in a position to mete out a death sentence to my green grandparents just because they keep shedding an endless stream of leaves all year round. I’m undoubtedly younger than they are. I remember seeing the trees as big as they are now even when I was a young boy living at home.
2. A Good Deed Deserves Another.
So, the trees are still around. We did trim the leaves a few times just to contain the enormity of the leaves radii. The only setback of having them is probably only the weekly cleaning of dry leaves. Other than that, they seem to provide more good. The entire house gets cooling shade from the scorching sun. I get to feast on Rambutan fruits annually, for free! I get to share them with family and friends too. The garden looks beautifully aged and time-worn with the ancient trees rooted in their positions. For one small duty of clearing the leaves, my family benefit from them more than we are burdened. I say, it is worth having them around.
3. Life is Not Just Sunshine & Rainbow.
Life does get tough sometimes. Everyone’s life is not free from hardships. We can’t just be on top of the world when everything seems to fall into place, and then whine and break down when hardships arrive. The only thing we can do is to hold on, pray, strive, and hope for the best. The trees seem to speak of that to me. What with the long years of eternal sunshine and rain, and thunderstorms, yet there they are, still upright as ever. They are weather-beaten and strong, and still yielding fruits after all the years. The brown dead leaves are constantly being replaced with new, green ones. That, to me, is renewal, hope and strength in their subtlest and finest forms.
I think there’s still more to learn from them. But this post will do for now. Hope you enjoyed this entry and do share your thoughts with us, as always.
Image source
thinking potatoes 
