Begin Again
13th Nov 2020
Big things in life are always overrated. The most remarkable experiences come from the smallest of things. Have you ever taken a moment out to notice what thoughts cross our minds before we sleep that bring a smile on our faces? It is never about an expensive gift, but a kind gesture received from a stranger. It is never the best dress that you bought, but a small piece of cake that melted in your mouth. It is always about little things.
Likewise, sometimes, amidst your usual routine you come across something minuscule that strikes a chord deep within you. Trees. So unnoticeable even though they cross our path every day. Nonetheless, once in a while when we pause and observe meticulously, we realize how time has passed and how a small plant has grown into a big tree. Like the papaya tree in facade of my building.
It looked so content with its life; tall and proud among other shrubs surrounding it. Until one day, when it was cut down. The elegance with which it once stood, looking beautiful, had reduced to a single stem ending abruptly few feet above the ground. Reason? Nobody knows. Albeit, where it once looked happy and perfectly in place, suddenly, the stem started looking a little out of place.
Do trees feel grief the way humans do?
Because if they can, I am sure that tree must have felt its life’s purpose has gone down the drain. I don’t know if trees can see things, but if they can, it must be difficult to see everyone around it grow and become big, while its own growth was stunted. I don’t know if trees can get depressed, but if they can, this was the moment depression would have hit that papaya tree really hard. To make it worse, there was nobody appreciating it or motivating it in any way.
Few weeks and months passed. At this point, I knew the tree would have given up and decided to die instead.
Only, one day, there were two tiny branches coming out from that stem.
What amused me is the fact that it took its time to get over what happened. There was no reason for it to grow back. But it did. Nobody had any expectation from it, nor did it have a family to support. Nobody, literally NOBODY would have cared if it didn’t grow back. But that mattered the least. At one point, the tree had invested a lot in being the best version of itself that it could be. Maybe it would never go back to being there again. But that was no excuse for the tree to not fight back.
For a long time after that I wondered, where that resilience to not give up must have come from. Although, now I feel it isn’t that complicated. It is in its nature to grow, so it grows, irrespectively. Maybe we have a lot to learn from the papaya tree.
When we face tough situations, a part of our heart always tells us to give up and end things. But life happens between the moment we hit our lowest point and the moment we decide to fight back.
I guess, in the end that is all life is about, beginning again.
– Sanketa Raut
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Samay and Solace 