Wednesday, January 30, 2008

The Beauty of Trees

And so she comes to dream herself a tree. --H. Crane

I am in love with trees. As far as I'm concerned, they can do no wrong. And yet, some serious wrong can come to them. I happened upon this story on kqed the other night and within the first two minutes, I started crying. It made me so sad to think that a tree that's been around for 500 years can succumb to something so small and yet so deadly.

So, it was interesting today when I drove to a new school, a whole new neighborhood, where I'll be teaching drama to four 2nd grade classes, and noticed the entire neighborhood is filled with great white oaks. I don't think these photos do any of them justice. They are miraculously more gorgeous than this, but I ask that you ponder just a little longer than normal and try and imagine their beauty, while taking in their majestic stance.





And next time you see a tree, give it a big ole hug. They respond well to positive reinforcement.

2 comments:

Ellen Zachos said...

Have you read Oak: The Frame of Civilization? It's by a colleague from the NYBG and it's a fabulous read. Hard to explain, but he (William Logan) takes you through millennia w/men and their relationships w/oak. It's riveting.

jennifer said...

i love trees too! they're the wisest organisms on the planet. think about it-- everything they need comes to them... sunlight, water. they don't have to move... they just exist in a state of pure enlightenment. did you know the oldest trees in the world grow here in california? bristlecone pines. methuselah is the name given to the oldest known one of these... it's almost 5,000 years old. FIVE THOUSAND! blows my mind. you should google them if you've never seen them... they're all twisted and gnarled... they look thousands of years old...