Can a story be told, if one is not heard?
March 2021
They are all the same, but so different. One grows taller than the next. One sees more than the other. They all watch the light, but some get blinded by it until night.
It is a story told by me and represented by the tree.
You may scream and shout with everything you’ve got inside of you, and you may not be heard. It is as if your body moves in the direction of someone or something but you are stuck to the ground.
All you can visualise is darkness. The grief, like gravity, it pulls you to the centre of the earth.
Its roots are buried in the soil. Deep down you can make out every single one’s journey. Each one has a story to tell. Each one wants to be seen, to be heard. But not every living thing takes the time to find that out. As the roots cannot be spotted easily, not everyone knows what they’re capable of. Not a single person knows how special they are and not anyone listens to what they have got to say.
People pass by daily. From the outside they look at how beautifully the tree has grown. In reality, they have no idea what is going on inside of it. The tree feels lonely. Lonely, even though so many souls are around it.
It was at the deepest of the deepest. The tree was at its lowest. It didn’t know what was to come. It couldn’t think of how to live another day. Surrounding it was nothing but darkness. There was no light near, to be seen.
Although this powerful tree has went through so much, – more than anyone would like to believe,- ‘giving up’ was not an option. The tree was strong. Stronger than people thought, so it fought its way out of the grief, the depression it was in.
When the sunrise was a mirroring reflection on the lake, the tree got an answer. An answer it did not know it was looking for. It realised that it had to go through this alone. No-one was capable of helping it. No-one was able to help it out of its current state. The tree had to be alone. It had to feel this way and experience what he did, to then learn from it. The tree wasn’t allowed to be helped, as that was its task. Its task was to do this by himself, so he will be able to fulfil his dreams for the future.
The tree was granted a huge gift. One he did not know he had for years. It was an incredibly special tree. As hard as it was for him to live through these experiences, they were the start of his life. The important start, also called: ‘The Challenging Start’, was the guide to his wonderful, colourful future. The future that holds the bright pink blossoms. The blossoms that will- one day- be seen by million others.
By,
Leona McDonagh