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americans, care, environment, essay, farming, food, inspiration, nature, neighbors, nurture, resources, society, spirituality, sustainability, trees, vegan, vegetarian, writing
I read this article a couple of days ago and it led my husband and me to have a conversation about Americans and spirituality.
The trees have social networks. The trees take care of a sick neighbor by feeding them sugar water and can keep them alive for decades.
If the trees are social beings and care for one another, it seems like these things would be at the core of our being, too. I think greed and selfishness are the difference, though. People put money before human beings – profits before people. We also see human beings ask questions like, “What is in it for me?” Of course, there are also people who deliberately injure or kill other people.
How is it that the trees are more loving and noble than many people?
The other day my husband and I went to see a retirement planner and she was talking about the stock market. She said, “The stock market isn’t reacting to the economy right now. We know the economy will grow as long as people spend money.”
We are taught to spend money. We are taught to want and buy and buy and buy. This behavior doesn’t consider the resources that go into the products we buy like wood, water, gas, copper, steel, and human lives. Many people don’t consider what they eat – the fact that they are nourishing their bodies with cows, pigs, chickens or the milk or eggs of these animals.
There is a disconnect between people and the natural environment and other living things. I think when we are so cut off from the things that sustain our lives we become sick in our spirit, and that sickness is apparent in the way we treat the planet and other human beings.
Very few of us still hunt and fish or farm our food, so we don’t have a relationship to the things that keep us alive. We don’t often think of trees helping us to breathe. Some of the same things that separate us from plants and animals also separate us from other people – the convenience of modern living- cars, computers, refrigeration, heat, air conditioning, grocery stores, and shopping malls. We don’t think that our lives are dependent on others, but they are, we just don’t see the people who we need. We don’t see the farmers in the fields, or the people overseeing the washing of fruit in factories, or the truckers bringing food to the market, and on and on.
Today, I am in awe of the tree. There are so many lessons they have to teach us, and I hope we learn them soon because using them as an example would ease so much suffering. Who knew that along with giving us oxygen, trees could teach us how to live and care for each other when planted side by side? Trees make excellent neighbors, but do we?
Reblogged this on homemade naturally and commented:
What a great perspective. I love to grow my food, and am happier when outside. Love those trees. Great post.
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Thanks for the reblog!!! 🙂
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I had too it touched me and hope it does for many more.
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I am fascinated with trees. I even went on a vacation specifically so that I could see one tree!! I love this quote… “The thing about trees is that they know what to do. When a leaf loses its colour, it’s not because its time is up and it’s dying, it’s because the tree is taking back into itself the nutrients the leaf’s been holding in reserve for it, out there on the twig, and why leaves change colour in autumn is because the tree is preparing for winter, it’s filling itself with its own stored health so it can withstand the season. Then, clever tree, it literally pushes the used leaf off with the growth that’s coming behind it. But because that growth has to protect itself through winter too, the tree fills the little wound in its branch or twig where the leaf was with a protective corky stuff which seals it against cold and bacteria. Otherwise every leaf lost would be an open wound on a tree and a single tree would be covered in thousands of little wounds. Clever trees.”
― Ali Smith, Artful
And also this one that I just used in my blog post from the other day, http://amomentsglory.com/2016/01/28/balance/.
Thank you, that was a very interesting article you shared as well as your perspective in your post. 🙂
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Thank you for sharing your experiences and the information!! 🙂
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If you want to see some of the most amazing photographs of trees, go take a peek at my Pinterest board dedicated to them. I’ve always felt such a strong inexplicable connection to trees but never tried to put it into words. You’ve done just that. 🙂
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How do I find you on Pinterest?
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I love trees! I hope you don’t make me my sharing with you a post I did a few weeks ago!!
https://spiritualdragonfly.wordpress.com/2016/01/09/my-life-in-trees-🌲🌳/
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Thanks for the link!
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😄😄
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This post is just magic. I seem to have lost faith in humans and humanity. Nature has so much to teach us but 99% of refuse to listen. We can’t carry on like this. The world is going to break down one day!
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When I read the article about trees, I cried. I can’t believe how amazing they are!!! 🙂
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I love your thinking!
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Thank you!!! 🙂
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Reblogged this on 'Enability' blog.
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Thanks for the reblog!!! 🙂
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You’re so right. We take our resources for granted and assume there is plenty for us and are here only for us. The “me me me” syndrome. I think, as you suggest, we need to pause and be grateful for our natural resources and animals and trees!
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🙂
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