The Grand Oak Tree
The phone dropped from his hand as its screen shattered when it hit the hard floor. He felt as if someone knocked the wind right out of him. Everything was spinning; barely able to hold his balance, he fumbled into the chair next to him. A wave of emotions cascaded upon him like a raging title wave crashing down onto the shores of an angry ocean. Scared, frightened, he felt numb as his arms gave up and fell to their sides, sinking the rest of his body backwards. “How could this be?” he said in a defeated tone. Wishing he would just wake up from a bad dream, he knew all too well it was not.
Looking out the window, he saw the sun was starting to set. The bright blue sky slowly turned warm, with hints of red and purple as dusk began to approach. He noticed that the giant oak tree outside looked different today. Perhaps it was the golden rays of the setting sun did he realize how beautiful it was. The same tree he has seen for the past 20 years, he never noticed just how grand it was. Its bark deep with ridges of age, each with its own story to tell of a time long ago. Its leaves swayed in uniform as they waltzed with the summer breeze. Each leaf following the other while remaining unique and different. He smiled at the family of squirrels running through its branches, playing, and foraging for food while birds nearby chirped away at a summer song. It all was very blissful.
He admired how the tree could not move, talk, or control its change. At best, it can nudge a root in the right direction, but even then, it’s a prolonged and lengthy process. If a storm came, it would sway with the wind as it does with the breeze, and should it be damaged; it would move on and start to heal.
At that moment, the man realized that the tree’s beauty was not because of the setting sun but in its ability to remain resilient through the winds of change. That no matter what happened, it would keep living until the very end. He smiled as he embraced the warm thought.
His phone began to ring, but he was too week to pick it up. He knew someone would come for him soon, and until they do, he would continue to look out the window and admire the view as night started to settle in.