SEEING THE TREE BEFORE THE FOREST

 

   🌳     𝗔 𝗡𝗲𝘄 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗲𝗲𝘀     🌲 

Something rather ironic happened to me this year. It relates to trees.

Growing up in a village surrounded by mountains and valleys filled with many species of trees, deciduous and coniferous, tall and short, I would look at them all as simply one big forest of green. I never saw anything specific or special but I would have easily seen a forest, one big forest, every single day.

Growing through my teens in a city, the forests were a great distance away. I saw the occasional tree here and there, no rhyme, no reason, just here and there, singles and pairs, but rarely much more. Over sixty years of living I never gave that difference much thought because neither trees nor forests meant anything to me — until now. It’s amazing what retirement can do to a person.

In January on the Island called Aruba in the southern Caribbean, a new friend told me about a project she and three other like minded people were working on. They are four of many people in the world concerned about not only climate change, but also the state of our world 🌎 going to hell in a hand basket. Be it the stresses of environmental issues, war, poverty, protests, greed, avarice, sloth, envy, bigotry, racism, control, wrath, domination and the like, our world is crying for help. But, not enough is happening to stop the damage, reconcile and get us back to a greater sense of peace. Love, honour and respect for all people and all things seem to have been cast aside and replaced by their own antonyms! 

When Sofie told me about her plans for a Peace festival to raise awareness about the state of our world and the continuous downhill slope into which we were heading, my mind went immediately to the 1960s Woodstock era.

Younger generations of people stepped to the plate to open the world’s consciousness about human destructive and disruptive behaviours impacting our lives and the health of our planet. They were all together in one location hoping for a brighter and more peaceful future. That event was a pivotal time in our history. It did have some impact, but the impact lost momentum and here we find our world in a state of disarray once again.

Along comes a determined group of peace loving people, stepping to the plate and joining an international effort to put peace at the forefront of our minds, and at the top of all agendas. Similar events are happening around the world, each with the basic premise of giving peace a chance. This one festival I am featuring is called Let Love Rule Peace Tree Festival and it will be happening in Amsterdam August 9-11.

The program includes a variety of presentations, talks, discussions, exercises  and tools to help us better understand the importance of stepping to the plate, speaking up and guiding personal and business decisions toward the greater good of all, specifically including the needs of Mother Nature and ultimately our 🌎 world. All of this will be paired with drumming, dancing and other musical and cultural entertainment. 

The culmination of the entire Festival experience will be forever embedded in the planting of a Sequoia tree — a tree of strength, resilience, longevity and wisdom. Its location will be in a quiet public place, and include story boards and spots for quiet reflection for people of all ages, faiths and backgrounds. It will join an internationally rooted forest of peace trees.

Symbolically the tree will be an earthly connection to all other peace tree planting events around the world. It will become a part of a new “community forest” reflecting and encouraging international efforts to restore hope and optimism for healthy, peaceful existences for all breathing people, animals and plants on Earth. It will help people to value their love and respect for one another and all living things, for the good of humanity, as well as Earth’s forests, flora and fauna, for generations to come. 

Unlike in my younger days, I do now see the tree, the trees and the forest! I see the good around me but I also see the bad and the ugly. I see sitting around and ignoring reality waiting for someone else to take care of it, is not feeling right to me. It’s because of this that I will be attending the 𝓛𝓮𝓽  𝓛𝓸𝓿𝓮  𝓡𝓾𝓵𝓮 𝓟𝓮𝓪𝓬𝓮  𝓣𝓻𝓮𝓮  𝓕𝓮𝓼𝓽𝓲𝓿𝓪𝓵 in August. 

We will be “renewing the soil and planting a seed” in the hopes of moving the world forward peacefully, respectfully and progressively. It’s free for all so if you are interested in being a part of it, let me know or check out the website at https://www.letloverulepeace.com/ .