Like Leaves on a Tree

Each leaf on the large tree outside brings me a certain calm—a knowledge that even after being pummeled by the hard rain, the leaves do not fall. They droop, mind you, but they do not fall. They appear even more vibrant than before, nourished by that which seemed so threatening just hours before. And when the setting sun’s last rays glimmer upon the highest leaf, springing forth at the top of the tree, the leaves below breathe a sigh of relief and float gently in the consoling breeze. Eventually these leaves will fall, but they know, and they do not worry. Those which replace them prolong the life of the source, the tree which has stood for over one-hundred years. But the leaves know not how long the tree has lived, they only know that they serve its life, and in doing so they serve themselves.

What do we serve? Whom do we serve? Are we leaves, serving a higher purpose, a continuous generative force? Perhaps we are born near the trunk, protected from the harsher elements, waiting for our chance to emerge from a small stem at the very top of the tree. Perhaps it is dangerous there, but it is exhilarating. First to see the sun rise, first to see it set; first to taste the rain, first to dry. And once we fall, slowly, in a zigzagging pattern to the ground, we must think to ourselves—being that top leaf—“It wouldn’t be so bad to start back at the bottom.” For we know that we will slowly rise, experiencing all that there is to experience as part of this old life-source. Perhaps we will not even know when we grow again what it is like to emerge from the top of the tree. Perhaps it will be frightening if suddenly we find ourselves there, growing out of a small stem in a spring storm. Nevertheless, we can dream, and we can do so collectively, for ourselves and for one another. Even if there is no regeneration, all we can know is life. For death is not a state of knowing—there is no liminal state between life and death—all we know is life, in whatever state, and we should not fear what we cannot know or experience. We must take comfort in the fact that we are all vital to keeping the tree alive. For two thoughts occur: if there is no tree, we are still vital; if there is no vitality, there is still the tree!