Thursday 10 April 2008

The happiness of the tree

Once upon a time, there was a tree, with branches that touched the sky and spread across the forest. It had so many flowers and fruits on it, such that you can always see the birds, bees, squirrels, … on it. The tree was so loving and carinedg, that it gave it fruits to the hungry, shadow to the tired and nectar of its flowers to the thirsty. It was also very polite and humble. But the tree was always sad. Sad because he cannot walk, run, jump… or at least move a millimeter.
His sorrow increased when the little worms which passed by pitied him by saying, ”Oh! What a huge body! But it is really sad that you cannot crawl like us, the tiny one!” The tree would try hard to put a smile and reply, “You are right my friends! But God never gave me the ability to walk.”
And he would weep when he sees the fishes in the pond jump high and splash into the water. He would cry to God and ask him why he hadn’t given him the ability to jump like the fishes. His biggest sorrow came when he saw the birds. The birds, which comes for his fruits would pity him for not being able to fly. They would ask him why he sent his roots down so deep into the earth, which makes him stand still on the ground. Tears would flow down the trunk of the tree, and his answer will become inaudible due to his weeps. The years passed as the tree grew huger, longer and wider – and more still on the ground.
One fine morning, the tree was shaken from it’s thoughts by the sound of a man. It opened its eyes to find a man, so tired and weak, sit under its shade. He caring tree moved its branches above the man so that the sun’s rays did not reach him. The tree also dropped some of it fruits for the man. The man was happy, thanked the tree, ate till his hunger left him, and was in a position to talk k to the tree. Like every other creatures, he too sympathized for not being able to move.
“What a pity it is, Oh my huge tree, not being able to move around the place and see the things!”
“You are right”, said the tree, “God never gave me the ability to walk!”
“You are huge, but look at us, smaller creatures! We can fly in air and dive deep in sea! We can o even beyond the sky! What progress we have made on earth, in sky, and now reaching beyond! What revolutions we have had! Rewrote the history with big wars! Killed all people who stopped us! God gave us intelligence and made us the ones who should rule the world. “
The tree thought for sometime, then waved its branches, smiled, and replied, “I am happy that I’m a tree. I haven’t killed innocent men, weak women and little children in the name of war. I haven’t made people homeless, orphans and refugees. I haven’t thrown people away from their homes to build new industries. I feel myself proud for not being able to move.”


(Story based on the cartoon of O.N Vijayan, a talented malayalee cartoonist )

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful - just shows us the beauty of God's creation - that everything was created in balance and everything for it's own reason and purpose. :)

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