Trees making news, but not in the usual way

Once Christmas passes, trees rarely makes the news unless they fall during storms, serve as temporary homes for opponents of old-growth logging or get hit by a blight.

Not anymore. Trees can inspire, and God knows America and the world could use some inspiration. Forget the Page Three Girls of tabloid fame (infamy?), Punditty hereby declares it's time for Page Three Trees, at least until newsprint is manufactured from an annually renewable crop.

We have the technology, but do we have the will? Perhaps these photographs of various trees around the San Francisco Bay Area will help readers to see trees as the amazing living things that they are. Perhaps one fine day, the phrase "I can't believe they killed a tree to print this crap" will be replaced by "I can't believe they wasted hemp fiber to print this crap."

More than just planks for the latest deck addition to a suburban house (not that there's anything wrong with that), trees can be worth having around for their own sake. Look closer at a random tree the next chance you get. Climb one if you dare. If you've never hugged one, you're long overdue. And the next time you're walking on a deck, or clutching a rail, or smashing a long, towering drive to deep-left center field to win the game (assuming you aren't using an aluminum bat), thank a tree.

Heck, thank a tree even if you do use an aluminum bat. Trees figured out how to eat the sunlight and give the mammals oxygen; we figured out how to speed deforestation and then complain about the consequences. The least we can do is say thank you.

BONUS POEM

By Darren Richardson, Special to The Punditty Project

Who We Are and Who is the Answer to Why

We are the miniscule dewdrops in the nourishing raincloud

that is a sweet tear of joy from our One God.

We are the vibratory waves that drum alive with thunder,

the singsong wonder of our pores drinking in the wind.

We are wonder itself, blooming and expansive,

we are gratitude, we are the blessed

who recognize the bounty of our blessing.

We are the lush greenery of drizzly summers,

the rustling step-crunch of autumn leaves,

the deep-bear hibernations of many long winters.

And we are spring again, enraptured,

rebirthing, re-emergent, re-energized, reconnected

to Love in physical form, breath embodied, breath released.

We are the full-throated cries of banshees,

the sweet chirping of unseen sparrows, the water we drink,

all the fish swimming in the great oceans of our hearts.

We are habitat, fruitful branches nourished by the True Vine,

abiding in soul-mansions with cozy rooms and warm beds.

We are the sweat of good labor, the relief of shade.

We are the graciousness that finds a conduit in the caretaker,

the eternal welcome ever-awaiting the bewildered guest.

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