The Tree of Life

For my writing class, we sat next to this sculpture, entitled "The Tree of Life":

We were supposed to write for ten minutes, and this is what ended up on my paper:

So here I sit, under the "Tree of Life." Interesting that this huge concrete thing goes by that name while there are dozens of real trees surrounding it. I have always loved trees. They really add something to the world. Imagine your world completely void of trees. What a tragic world that would be! What would you sit under on a warm summer day to read a book or talk with friends? What would you decorate at Christmas time and mourn after New Year's Day? There would be no log cabins or wooden swings. The world would be cold, hard, and concrete--like this so-called "Tree of Life" under which I sit. Beyond its obvious symbolic meaning, this sculpture also brings better into focus the beauty of the world that surrounds it. The man-made is far surpassed by the divinely created in every instance I can think of. No matter what we build or invent, there is still greater already in existence on the earth. A rotating sky scrapper, renting rooms at billions of dollars a year still holds no comparison to a trickling stream down a mountain side, let alone the magnificent and terrible ocean that surrounds us on all sides. So what then can man be proud of? What is his portion of divinity? I think the answer is the raising and nurturing of a family. What can we create that is better than this?