One Forest

I may be an elm, and you may be an oak, but we are all part of the same forest. Not always by choice, but because our lives will touch each other, somewhere down the domino line.

I have occasionally been fortunate enough to have had times in my life when there were people I could turn to for strength and shelter from life’s storms. Not often enough, but we all give - and receive - shelter in various ways at some point or another in our lives.

Just like a tree in a forest, none of us are who or where we are today thanks to us alone. Trees shade each other, challenge each other, create healthy soil together, and break the wind for each other. In the same way, every person who has touched us was touched by someone else, on and on around the world, and back through the history of our species.

We live in the most connected and disconnected time in human history. By clicking a button in our home, we can provide life to someone in the most remote part of the planet. Yet we still think in terms of “us” and “them,” “here” and “there,” “my people,” and “their people.” Who knows who our actions will touch down the domino line? Who knows who touched those who have touched us, or whose ancestors touched their ancestors?

I may be an elm, and you may be an oak, but we are all part of the same forest. Not always by choice, but because our lives will touch each other, somewhere down the domino line.