A tale of three trees & then some

The Tale of Three Trees has been retold and highlights familiar human traits.  This ficticious moral tale for children describes the ambitions of an olive tree, an oak tree and a pine tree.  Each of these trees had individual dreams, like a life plan people so often formulate and hope to realize. 

The olive tree imagined itself being carved into a magnificent treasure chest which would hold gold, silver and very precious jewels.  When a woodcutter distinguished this particular tree among all the tress around, the tree obviously felt extra sprecial. It was sold to a craftsman who began to shape it into something the tree soon understood wasn't to be a treasure chest.  Instead, the olive tree was carved into a trough for stinky animal food. You can surmise this tree was devastated at its apparent fate.  It believed it would never realize its dream to be appreciated at a higher level.  This tree felt degraded, almost compared with the gutter.

The oak tree also had a dream.  This tree envisaged becoming integrated into a glorious ship that would ferry important people like royalty across great bodies of water.  As this tree was cut down, you might speculate it was excited, feeling that much closer to realizing its dreams.  But alas, as time passed, this oak tree realized he wasn't destined to be part of a great vessel.  Instead, the woodworkers shaped the oak tree into a puny, non-descript fishing boat for one person.  Of course, the oak tree was deeply saddened by fate. The other dream wasn't realized.

Now the pine tree grew on a distant mountain and was pleased to act as a beacon for travellers on their journeys.  Its ultimate dream was to remain where it stood tall so that it could continue to guide people who felt lost.  Yet, unbeknownst to this tree, Mother Nature had other plans.  A huge storm led to a lightning bolt splitting the pine tree.  The future looked like a complete disaster.  A lumberjack eventually came by and took the dead tree to a wood scrap pile. It seemed as if its dreams were long since forgotten.

And yet, just when we feel the most discouraged, this is when we can realize that our idea of destiny may not have been what was planned for us at all.

As it happened, if you know any Christian history, you will recall how Mary and Joseph had baby Jesus in a stable, for the inns were all full.  They used a particular animal trough as a manger in which they put clean straw.  The olive tree had desired to hold precious jewles, but it turned out to be destined to hold a thing far more precious, a rather unique and cherished human life.

As Jesus grew up, there came a time when he desired to cross a river.  He didn't choose the most elegant or the largest ship for his journey.  He was a man of simplicty and chose the small fishing boat.  This enabled the oak tree to carry the king of kings, when it had originally had a far mroe limited vision for its destiny.

Years passed, and a group of Roman soldiers were rummaging around in scrap wood piled.  They chose the character of the severed pine tree to carve the cross on which Jesus was eventually crucified.  That tree was shaped into a symbol that continues to guide and assist people.

This tale reminds us all of our own inner value.  We're also drawn to realize that each of us has rather limited ideas of our abilities and potential.  The plan and purpose you think you're meant for in this lifetime may not turn out to be the real reason why you're alive.  You may in fact, be present for things you couldn't ever hope to anticipate.  Thus, it makes sense to learn to rethink disappointments.  After all, you're being prepared for even more fulfilling roles and experiences. 

Authentic or watered down

To be unwelcome in one's own country, to find a lack of work opportunities, leads some writers to become expatriates.  Their sensibility and perception may remain distinctly national, cultural, localized, and soulful.  Writing can design its own rules as words move along.  They may gain more power in orality, the living voice, in live performance.  Perhaps a recording can't replace a real life experience? Why even try to translate it into words?

More often than not, people turn their books as a way to find solace in solitude.  These people aren't seeking inter-connectedness with people around them, but to be engrossed in fictional people and places.  What is it about exoticism its seductions?  Interpreting a culture at its deepest level is typically done by nationals for their own nationals.  This gives perspective authenticity.  When a writer writes about a culture for foreigners, would such an interpretation be as authentic?  

You may imagine that people do not adjust their language to the expectations of the foreigners who would judge you.  Yet, writing and publishing a book in multiple countries implies it must be translated into language and and at times, jacket and title slightly changed. Would this imply that the original written work be as valid or would it be watered down when marketed as a package?

Open the fire

You may know someone who has managed to overcome different kinds of suffering, to transform it into something positive and meaningful.  Would success come in the form of intense living and learning? Open the fire.

How can you hope to understand success until you know what it is really like? What form will it take?  When will you experience it? Do you share in a frenzy?  Would you accept challenges and learn from them? What makes your view of success so vital now that it deserves your attention?

For some people, success takes the form of discovering a thing they didn't know before.  The idea of giving something of your own, something meaningful, represents sharing a piece of your own sense of success.  You may structure success in your hopes and expectations.  What is miraculous about your life is that you do not wish to miss an opportunity to transform your fate.

As you explore the power of your present, you can create a more desirable future.  Whether your view of success would be more or less desirable than the life you leave, you have to decide. 

The prospect of chaos

Do you dream od encountering a relationship that throws your life into chaos? Few people do.  The most common practice is for people to make choices that keep that threat under control.  These kinds of people become content and reassured by their predictable lover's routine.  They believe to leave the comfort of what they know would be too scary and would lead to problems.

However, other people think the very opposite.  The thrive on impulsiveness and surrender to the unknown without giving the risk too much thought.  At times, these kinds of people hope to find solutions to their problems in the realm of their most passionate experiences.  The people who follow their passions may experience euphoria when marvellous things occur or deep disappointment if events unfold in undesirable ways.   

In either case, if you make your partner responsible for your happiness and blame this partner for your unhappiness, then you haven't yet realized you make your choices and must be accountable. As you consider denying or giving into the source of your passion, only you can decide whether either perspective is more destructive, or whether you would make a completely different decision.  The prospect of chaos could sound scary of exciting, but each experience teaches you useful things. 

Disoriented world mafia

Controversy exists about the origins of global genetic diversity.  A recent investigation initiated by National Geographic supposedly leads us all back to a collective history together in Africa.  Apparently, we evolved from the apes, to Neanderthals, then to have dark brown skin and hair before diversifying.

When European explorers set sail over 700 years ago, the lands they "discovered" were already full of people.  In this sense, they weren't the first humans to live in the places they colonized.  The encounters with natives were often wary or violent, but they were actually reunions of a close-knit family of individuals with apparent irreconcilible differences.  Why do power struggles evolve?

Consider that National Geo traced DNA back to Africa and followed the DNA trail to meet families all across Central Asia.  It is conceivable that their ancient generations walked  through the Asian continent and across to what is now Alaska when a land bridge existed.  This humans passed through vast territory and faced daunting climate to eventually migrated to North America.  They diversified again into Native Indian tribes.  Some of their ancestors moved still further south, as are recognized in lineages of Mayans in Mexico and Indian cultures dispersed throughout South America. 

All this said, why would blood family worldwide evolve to fight, compete for power and kill each other? If we're interconnected biologically, culturally and ethnically, and spiritually, why perpetuate indifference and conflict among modern ancestors? Do you sometimes feel like cultures are perceived as disoriented world mafia with amnesia about their past? Come what may, life will evolve again.  Some people would argue another widespread evolution in human mindset is long overdue.