I visited a garden recently and the garden created within me an awe inspiring experience of seeing age old trees well cared for and protected. Some trees would carry a history of about seventy to eighty years, as suggested by the gardener.
As I walked around I noticed the stump of a tree preserved by coating it with paint of two different colours;
I stood beside the stump and allowed my imagination to go back when it flourished in the garden.
Every season, nearing the summer its leaves would have become tender to flower to bring forth its produce of mangoes. The birds of the air would have normally come to rest in the tree, nest and feed from the fruits.
At one rainy season it would have been struck by lightning and it withered gradually, first by dropping its leaves and then standing bare.
The gardener sensed the danger of a big tree falling, as its roots no longer nourished or sustained it. That was when the tree was felled and its timber cut into pieces and transferred to the saw mill to convert the timber into various uses.
Now what is left in the garden is a memorial of its presence in the garden for several years! A silent presence of a history with hundreds of birds and humans receiving its fruits year after year! It offered night shelter for birds and allowed its foliage to protect birds that nested and watched over their offspring.
The nature tells stories of events to give us a sense of the history that has formed the environment.
In this instance, it is the story of a tree that stands out! I felt moved and overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness of the gardener to allow the stump of the tree to remain! The way it is protected to last longer, speaks of the mindfulness to honour its history of presence in the garden.
It brought a consciousness about the way we ought to be regardful of our environment. This tree nourished the air with oxygen as long as it lived. It provided shade and regulated the day temperature in the summer months. Its fallen leaves nourished the soil with nitrogen.
In a culture, when 'use and throw away' attitude is common, I agonise over the way our family life is turning out. I come across stories of older people live lonely lives, with their children no more able to take care of them!
Is this generation of people loosing their grateful attitude towards senior citizens amidst the compulsions of life, where self pursuit of success overtakes many?
A sixty year old couple come to visit their parents every week, who live in our village. During the weekend they attend to many details of their parents, who normally are taken care by domestic live in support. They travel eight hundred kilometres one way every week to do the little they can to make their parents who are in the late eighties, to feel cared for!
This example made me feel that, gratefulness and regard for elders is still noticeable. I wish it was more common!
The stump of a tree in a garden is a call for grateful living and respectful attitude towards those who formed our lives!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment