Drastically Different

Photo: L. Weikel

Walking this evening in the brilliant clarity of late fall atmosphere, I noticed the simple beauty of this tree growing alongside the road. Both branches part of the same trunk, I couldn’t help but notice how drastically different were the paths they were growing along.

One seemingly chose to take the straight up path, while the other chose the scenic route.

The stark difference in the appearance of these branches brought me up short. I’m not even sure why. Perhaps because they’re growing from the same trunk and it would at least appear from my perspective that they haven’t been exposed to substantial differences in environmental stresses.

So what in the world would cause one to go all swirly and creative, while its sibling just buckled down and got to work at the business of reaching for the sky?

Nature vs. Nurture

If these branches were human, we might attribute the differences in their ‘personalities’ to…what? Their nature? Their inherent souls, which even if their bodies were identical would still encourage development of their own unique, creative characteristics?

Is that possible with trees? Could it be that each branch of this tree has its own way of reaching for the sun? Might the curly branch be yearning for its individual expression along the same lines as Jonathan Livingston Seagull* did, while the straight branch just did what was expected?

These are the paths my mind wanders sometimes takes when we walk in darkness.