Never "Just" a Tree

When is a tree more than a tree? When it's the tree that sustained Anne Frank through her horrible ordeal during the holocaust, that's when it's more than a tree. Personally, I'm a tree hugger. I love trees and plants and (most of) nature. As seen in previous blogs, I could definitely do without bats! However, overall, I'm a lover of nature and I find value in trees, even if there is no historical significance to their existence. I love how they seem to be reaching upward, striving for perfection.

Anne's tree fell on Monday of this week, during a wind and rain storm. The tree was suffering from fungus and rot. I am so glad that someone tried to save it by reinforcing it with steel rods, but the storm proved too much for the tree and it fell over, damaging some neighboring yards. The tree was around 150 years old, and stood as a symbol for all those who sympathized with Anne's suffering. Being locked away for so long with no access to the outside world, this tree could be seen by Anne from her hiding place, and was a beacon of hope for her, a reminder of freedom and what lay beyond the four walls she was confined to. What a noble tree to have stood so long, to have survived beyond what seemed possible. I never saw that tree, never felt the roughness of its bark or touched its leaves, but it meant something to me and I'm sad at its loss.

Most days I sit at a desk, thankfully by a window, and I look outside and see bushes and the tops of trees, and on some super days, the blue skies. It is this ability to see the outside world that keeps me going. The trees and birds and sky remind me there is more out there for me, that my world is huge and waiting for my return. There is hope in a sunny sky. It lifts me when I'm dreary and makes me feel like I'm part of something greater than all this paperwork and telephone calls. The sky isn't just a sky, a tree isn't just a tree. They are symbols of something greater. They remind us of our connection to the Universe, to a God that watches us and remembers us, even when we feel forgotten.

Maybe a tree is NEVER just a tree. Maybe all the trees in all the world that can be viewed from a place where you would rather not be are really just like Anne's tree....a symbol of hope and freedom...a sign that we are all connected to something beautiful.

To Anne's tree I bid farewell...I know it still stands somewhere, somehow, tall and proud as ever. It is timeless and endless, as is Anne's legacy of hope in times of despair. Anne's story did not end well, and is one of the senseless tragedies of recorded history. It was a needless death, a waste, and a shame, as were all the deaths of the Jews at that time, however, her memory stands today as much as ever, just like that tree did for so many years....tall and proud.