There is strength in a tree. There is majesty in it. There's even immortality in a tree. Trees seem to defy time - and logic. Trees that are tall are stunning, and to stand beneath one is to behold a true giant. And bigness in this case is beauty. What we see here is a Monterrey Cypress along the California coast just north of Miramar, close to sunset. Those golden boughs at lower and middle right are reflecting light off the ocean and they are quite literally glowing, as if they possessed some inner source of illumination. But all living things radiate light, if you look for it. Trees are often overlooked as living things since they don't move or make much noise. Until one topples in a storm. Or until one stands quietly in the woods and listens. Then you will hear them talking. We cut them down by the millions to build our structures, dwellings and our roads, but now we see how fragile those structures are, as images of floating debris, much of it wooden, dominates the Tsunami footage coming out of Japan. What nature giveth, nature taketh back. Even the oil we pump from the prehistoric ground is composed of organic matter in the form of long dead vegetation - trees among them. One could say, quite accurately, that our world was built with trees, yet how often do we consider the karmic repercussions on a civilization that cuts, slashes, kills, burns and then callously discards its most important resources? Look upon a tree and see that it is something alive and, like us, striving to stay that way. Look upon a tree and see that it serves so much more than itself. Look upon a tree as a fellow traveler aboard spaceship Earth, a friend who will, if you let it, bring you back to earth and ground you, as no other living thing can. Look upon a tree in any way that soothes you, just look upon a tree.
Monterrey Cypress, Miramar Beach, CA © 2010 Vincent Louis Carrella
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