I stumbled upon this amazing tree while wandering around my hometown. It is one of the most relaxing things to do. No mobile, no internet, sunny weather and letting your thoughts run free while walking slowly through amazing landscapes. This tree inspired me to some deeper thoughts that I want to share with you.

Some basic facts about this tree:

It is a maple tree, and it seems that it is around 150 years old. Even if his trunk seems tiny from this far, two man cannot surround it with their arms. Like this you have an idea of how impressive an huge this tree really is. He is a very lonely tree. He is the only one in several square miles. There are even some myths that are told about that tree:

The story:

About 60 years ago, just after the war, the farmer owning the fields around that tree tried to fell that tree, just to find out, that it had grown around a metal fence post, which caused his tools to break. When his tool shattered, the farmer took a wound on his leg and wasn´t able to continue cutting down the tree. When he was able to walk again, the wound on the tree was almost gone, just like the one on the farmers leg. He decided then, that the tree should not be cut down and instead used the tree as shady recreational area while working on the field. Today the trees wound can´t be seen anymore, and the fence post neither.

There are at the foot of the tree some rare berry bushes, these are todays guarantee that the tree will not be cut down. It is also told, that the area around the tree does not need to be fertilized. Even without fertilizer the crops grow higher and better around that tree.

I have no idea how much of this is just hearsay, nevertheless I really like the story.

The tree is outstanding in an immense field of weeds and crops. He had to survive the fence post, then the war, then the farmers tools. He did not change the world, he was changed by the world into what he is today.

Later that day I found another tree, a birch this time:

Here we have another story. The places owner decided to grow ivy vines nearby. These vines infested the tree. The owner decided, that the ivy leafs look better and give a nice touch to the pale birch and he decided to let them grow. Today the ivy vines are so deeply rooted into the birch, that both will die in the next couple of years.

I was not able to ignore the social darwinistic parallels to people these days.

Should we resist the farmers tools, fight to survive, to be free and to be left alone? Or should we just stand and look how our trunk is infested and leeched by those who couldn´t and wouldn´t survive without us, killing us slowly in the process...

Dark thoughts, I know, but that is my mood today, despite the amazing weather, and a great week for the price of Steem.

I tried to change the world, failed spectacularly
instead the world changed me.

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