Wednesday, 18 March 2009

The strongest should need help there and then

Some write to vent their anger while some write to recover from trama. I have read Ho Minfong's novel " The Clay Marble" and now i could understand how she felt when she wrote that novel.


There is a massive old white pine that grows in a corner of our backyard. It provides great shade, stability and permanence that had always calmed me.

One winter morning, after a heavy snow storm, the lowest branch broke off; I rush out to see the tree. There in the tree trunk where the branch ripped off was a dark, deep rot, so soft that I could have plunged my hand in and scooped out moist pulp. It looked as if the tree was rotten to its core. I stared at it and thought; that’s me.

My husband called up his good friend, a tree surgeon. Robin said “let it be, its strong and tough, it’ll heal itself.” I sought out another friend, Rachel. That was a couple of year ago. It was a tough old thing; its trunk and its own root system keep growing and it is healing itself. Today I went out to shake some of the snow off its lowest branch.

Because as Rachel maintains, even the strongest and toughest things can do with a bit of help, now and then.

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