As the tree grows and goes through its life certain processes and events inevitably occur within and around it. This is true of all trees. All go through similar processes with similar results, though the details vary from tree to tree.
It drops unneeded branches, needles, pieces of bark that are no longer necessary to the tree. Long greenish white needles extend from the slender bumpy twigs. How does the tree know that they aren’t necessary? Does it?
This coniferous tree’s needles only seem to grow on the outer parts of the branches, not closer to the tree. They face outward, not inward. The tree pushes the needles up and out into the clear afternoon air. How does the tree know to make its needles grow this way? Does it? Is there some sort of intelligence that directs the tree’s growth, or is it mere happenstance?
It also has several branches of varying size. Some grow bigger, thicker, longer, while others stay small or else die and drop off. I sit at the base of the tree as the ticks of the clock push time along towards the eventual beginning of class. I quickly gaze upwards and observe its many strong arms. I survey the ground around me, littered with the weaker ones. They’re prickly things, all dried out and stiff. Deemed unworthy and cast down to the very spots in which they now lay. Motionless. After having been released from the tree they in turn relinquished the life that had once flowed inside them. Was this fall a willing act? How was it decided that they should fall and the rest should stay attached to the tree and grow to be the larger branches I now see?
Some say it’s in the genetic coding of the trees. They do what they do because that’s what their genetic makeup tells them to do. The genes decree that when a part doesn’t fulfill its purpose it should be cut off from the rest of the tree. The genes determine which branches are good enough to grow bigger. The genes dictate which direction the needles grow. Essentially, the tree makes no decisions at all, it simply follows the plan written in its genes. Simple.
But, where did the genes come from? What pattern were they formed after? What is the origin of the simple, yet specific genetic messages? What intelligence possesses the tree?
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3 comments:
I like the simple but powerful changes to this composition--they bring the reader into a specific time and place. If I'm not mistaken, the tree you may have been examining outside the testing center is a really special one! The tree on the left of the main entrance, if you are facing the entrance from the outside, is called a dawn redwood. It is a rare deciduous conifer that drops its needles every fall, just like other trees drop their leaves. Then they regrow in the spring. This tree was once thought to be extinct, until about 60 years ago an expedition in China found some. There are "tree tours" you can take to learn about all the cool trees on BYU campus, if you want further inspiration or would like to do some more intellectual questing.
Great details! I especially like the questions that you pose. Very powerful. Do you think you could connect these trees to the reader? How do we relate to them? Could the questions you pose about the trees be posed about ourselves as well?
Great observations and detail.
Full credit earned for revised version.
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