A Community of Trees

If Barbara Walters ever interviews me I am ready for her. Bring on the questions, well, bring on the question. Specifically, the question which prompted Katharine Hepburn to respond by saying which type of tree she thought she was. Because I know the answer I'd give.

I am a Redwood.

I know what you're thinking; I must think of myself as tall, strong against the winds, sturdy and old. Actually, aside from old, none of those things come to mind when I compare myself to the Redwood. Yet, I am a Redwood.

I am also an Aspen.

Now you are probably thinking I think of myself as tall, sturdy, beautiful in fall and old. Again, aside from old none of those characteristics come to mind when I compare myself to the Aspen. Yet, I am an Aspen.

The Redwood for all its height, strength and longevity has a simple design quirk - its roots don't grow deeply enough to allow the Redwood to stand on its own. A Redwood standing alone by itself will fall down. The root system is shallow and too close to the surface. Big trouble for a tall tree.

Good news though, the roots are wide spreading and intertwine with the roots of the Redwoods around it. They grow with each other and hold on to each other. Through this mutual system of support the community of Redwoods is able to stand tall, to flourish and live for centuries and spawn new communities of Redwoods.

The Aspen too has a simple design fluke - there is no such thing as a single Aspen tree. If you see a single Aspen it is because someone has removed its brethren. Aspens grow in colonies. The entire grove/colony derives from a single seedling and spreads its roots which grow new seedlings for the other trees which you see in the grove. But the entire grove is indeed a single organism.

Aspens can live long like the Redwood. They can do this because of the community support they receive from each other in the colony. There is one such community in Utah thought to be 80,000 years old. Aspens can survive forest fires because their roots grow deep and are protected from the heat.

Yes, I am a Redwood and I am an Aspen. And so are you.

Like the trees, we all live in community. We are in community with our family, our friends, our co-workers, our neighbors, the people we routinely interact with at the coffee-shop, the cleaners, the pharmacy, the hardware store, our childrens' school, the post office.

Like the Redwood, we could not survive alone without the support, friendship, companionship, correction, joy and love being a part of community provides us.

Like the Aspen, we were not built to live alone and are indeed not a single unit.

In Genesis, God made a lot of things and after each one said "it was good." Then God made Adam and said "it is not good for man to be alone." Here Adam was in perfect Paradise, walking and talking and hanging out with his Creator everyday and God said Adam was still alone. Alone!

So, God gave Adam a little community. (We won't discuss what happened to the community next, but Eve didn't win Woman of the Year.)

First and foremost, God wants to be our priority. He created in us a God-shaped hole only He can fill. But He does not want us to be alone and created in us a human-shaped hole that only we can fill with each other. Only community can fill.

When we live in community we live tall, strong against the winds, sturdy, beautiful all year round, old lives. Indeed we live Redwood-Aspen lives.

That's a tree I bet even Katharine Hepburn would like to be.

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