Saturday, January 2, 2010

Lesson from the woods

Take a lesson from the woods.

The teeny weenie little creeper said to the big strong tree, “Please sir, shed off some of your leaves and give me some sunshine.”

“No way, you little creep,” Said the big strong tree. “Go elsewhere and find your own sunshine, and don’t pester me. You have no place here.”

So the little creeper crept along the ground trying to find an open space to get a little bit of sunshine. But he couldn’t get very far. He got over-whelmed by all the other bushes and weeds. He finally crawled towards the big strong tree and began to climb upwards reaching for the sunlight. He kept going higher and higher. His brothers and sisters came along and they joined him in the upward journey. Soon, they were climbing all over the tree.

Eventually, without realizing it, the big strong tree began to loose his energy. His leaves shrank in size and branches started growing weaker. Slowly, over the years, instead of growing taller and bigger, he began drying up and some of his branches withered and fell off. Then when the last of his leaves fell away, he died and began rotting away consumed and defeated by the family of creepers.
End of story.

Now relate that to people. Doesn’t it sound familiar? There are people who are rich, powerful and strong and who won’t budge and inch no matter how hard you beg them. They take and take and keep taking, and leave only the bits and crumbs to the weak and lowly. But soon, the weak and lowly would grow and grow and multiply and they outnumber and overwhelm the big and strong ones and somehow, tactically defeat them.

Only the wise ones grow and help others to grow that they become stronger and their strength and the combined strength of others help sustain their great position. Thus they are assured of their lasting power. Those who have their power and don’t think that they owe anyone soon find themselves fighting for their own survival.
Like the big tree.

4 comments:

  1. In the short run, big things rule small things. In the long run, small things rule big things. Like the creeper and the tree, humans stand no chance against a billion germs or cancer cells.

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  2. Good observation there.
    But I do believe there's a cycle for all beings great and small for everyone to have his day. Each is destined to live out it's lifespan, fulfilling its major purpose. And in the overall scheme of things, each species shall have its moment of 'glory' albeit by the rule: 'United, we stand, until divided'...

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  3. Indeed, we, the trees and all living things around us are feeding off one another in a giant food chain. We eat the small creatures and after we die, they eat us. However climate change is about to give all that a good whacking...

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  4. I believe climate change is part of the great scheme. It's time for something else to take over, just like we took over from the dinosaurs and the apes. Who knows? Maybe the amphibians are next. Someone's gotta clean up after us...

    Talk about the sun becoming a great ball of ice...

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