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the conversation

thursday august 24 2023

11:38pm


We sat across from each other, seeing but unknowing, the world that stirred within each other. "The other day I had a conversation with an acquaintance that got me thinking. You know how when you're driving down a residential street, the trees from either side seem to be leaning into each other, why do you think that is?" I took a few seconds to let that ponder before I responded. "Hm, I presume underneath the concrete their roots became intertwined and they began to share the weight as they grew. Come to think of it, there are probably numerous scientific reasons, but that's not why you bring this up, is it?" "Precisely not, you know me too well it seems. Under your logic then, why do the same trees not interlock their roots with their much closer neighbours? Why do they go through so much effort, connecting beyond their closest inhabitants? I'll tell you why, because just like humans, we always yearn for that which we cannot reach. Above the Earth but somewhere below the clouds, their branches touch as if holding hands." Once again I felt myself pausing, letting my thoughts catch up to my racing emotions. "So correct me if I'm wrong, essentially what you're saying is that the trees just like us, are willingly reaching for the hand, or the love that they know they cannot fully attain? Meaning what you're saying is that nature also goes beyond logic and makes choices that defy the laws of life?" A smile had formed on his lips, a tiny little light could now be seen flickering within his eyes. "Once again, you are close, but not yet there. It is not about a love they cannot fully attain or eternally never reach; nature, like us, seeks chaos. If the trees reached for the logical companion, the one that on paper seems perfect, love and nature is such a thing that they'll eventually lean and consume each other to death. It is the distance, the exact unreachable space between the two across the street, the inexplainable yearning for each other, that allows them to continue surviving, providing shade for generations." He paused, I felt I had stopped breathing. I looked outside the window, at my measly reflection in the glass, thinking about the trees in the silent wind, unable to give a response.




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