Seeds
Feb/Mar 99
 
Of all the living organisms on Earth, trees live the longest. Honest. I think that's perfect. Tree don't hurt anyone. Oh...maybe a branch fell on someone's head, or the trunk mangled a truck's bumper. But this is not the tree's fault. Hey, it was probably there first. Just hanging around. Growing taller. Shading your picnic table which could very well be the tree's own relative.
 
I don't think people really look at trees. I have a hard time telling a Red Maple from a Sugar Maple from a Dogwood. This is all going to change for me, because I recently had an epiphany. A moment of clarity. A grand revelation. It all started with a little seed about as big as this question mark: "?"
 
Trees are cool. Hospital patients heal faster, require shorter stays and less pain killers if room windows face trees. Trees are not only the longest living organism on this planet, they are the tallest. I'm hoping one of the seeds that are germinating in my kitchen window will produce a 125' tree-house for my great-grandkids.
 
Before the seeds were in a small peat pot in my kitchen, they were in the palm of my hand. I stood there for a long time looking at one seed in particular. I imagined where it came from, the miles it crossed. Escaping a hungry squirrel's eyes. These are Red Maple seeds, and squirrels just love 'em. I imagined the seed begining to germinate, then sprouting. I watched it grow. It lost a branch during a bad winter storm. It provided a house for endless birds and insects. It survived a lightning strike. It just kept going and going. Long after I was gone.
 
I pictured a young boy, picking up a seed from the old Maple and planting it in some fertile soil. Keeping an eye on it. Protecting the young sprout from birds and cats, so that those animals' ancestors will be able to build a nest in the tree, or just climb it and get stuck.
 
Next time you pass a tree in the woods or even on the way to your mailbox, stop and say hello. It might not say anything back, but then again....maybe it will.