The story of the tree

I was talking to Tree again. "Don't you ever want to change anything about yourself?" I asked Tree. Tree shook his branches, as if he were thinking. Some leaves fell to the ground. Finally he spoke: "You mean that I would have bigger or smaller branches? Or leaves in a different colour?" "That's right!" Tree shook his head. "I can't remember ever wanting to do a thing like that. But I know of a tree who did."

That tree lived in this forest, not far away. When it had grown from a little twig to a big tree, it noticed a small berk tree across the stream. To him it looked so beautiful. From this moment on all the tree could talk about was the berk tree, and how beautiful it was to him and how gentle it waved in the winds.

All the other trees tried to convince him that it was alright to be different. Not every tree was meant to look the same. But alas, the tree wouldn't listen. Things got worse when the tree grew big enough to see himself in the stream. From that moment on nothing would interest the tree but how he looked and why he didn't look as beautiful as the little berk tree across the stream. He forgot to take care of himself, his stem turned dry, his leaves lost their shine and colour.

Summer faded, and autumn made it's entrance in the forest. All the tree’s leaves fell off, and they covered the stream. Finally he saw himself as he really was, from the inside. No longer was it all about the exterior, because he would loose that every year, but as a strong tree, that would survive every weather condition. So he prepared for winter, and stood there mightily as the cold and snow of winter beat down on the forest. At the end of winter, when the first spring birds threw the last snow of it's thick branches, the tree looked across the stream. The small berk tree had not survived, because it only cared about it's leaves. It was simply not strong enough to make it through the harshness of the winter period.

The tree was proud of itself. "It doesn't matter how I look, it doesn't matter that I am different from a berk tree, or an oak. What matters is, that I am strong, that I want to live!" He merrily shook his bright green leaves in the new spring sun, and he just enjoyed the new year. Green is not merely a colour it's also a state of mind.