Tree of Life June 18th, 2007

Years ago the landscape was lush and green.  There were various plants, shrubs, and trees that filled the landscape as far as the eye could see.  The rains were plentiful and the ground was always moist and irrigated.  The temperature was a calm 78 degrees in the day and cool 62 degrees at night.  The vegetation flourished.  The plants made friends with the shrubs and agreed upon equal use of the water supply.  The trees were the protectors and covered the fragile plants with shade from their dense leaves and limbs.  Years went by and generation after generation enjoyed the simple life under the sun and the stars.
Gradually the sun began to grow hotter and hotter and the rains became less frequent.  Some of the plants tried to move by letting the friendly insects take their offspring to far away lands.  Others just passed away into dust and let the rich soil engulf their souls.  The trees ended up being the last things standing, as the soil became dry and then turned to sand.  The trees sucked every inch of water out of the soil.  The plants knew that the trees protected them from the hot sun, so they let them extort their water from them.  Not realizing they were committing themselves to an early grave.  As the plants disappeared, then shrubs, the trees themselves began to wither and die.  They were too large to just disappear though, their dead carcasses lining the landscape every few feet.  Sometimes the rains would come in a great downpour, but the soil couldn't take all the water in any longer.  The waves of water would flood to low ground and wash away all the things that had died over the years. 
100 years had passed and I visited this place once again as I had in my youth.  I was hoping to still see that rich landscape, all those friendly faces or at least their grandchildren.  All those plants, shrubs, and trees had given me life when I was born.  They raised me off their succulent nectar.  As I wander through that dry place and stumbled past dune after dune, I saw the remains of the trees, the empty ground where plants flourished.  The sounds of life rang in my ears the day I left this place, and now on my return there is only a few whispers.  Mainly sounds of the dying, the last of the trees trying to hang onto dead, broken, and burned homes.  That soil was their life and how easily it just disappeared.
I finally came to a tree in the middle of that place, its leaves still green and it was still trying to stay alive.
"Hey, what has happened here?"  I asked with a parched voice.
"They all are gone!  It has been a long time since I saw you friend, how are you?  Why have you returned to this place of death?"  The tree answered and asked in a lively voice.
"I am dying myself, of old age, and I wanted to be put back into the Earth where I came from!"  I replied.  "How come you look so alive?"
"Well, I am one of the lucky ones I guess, while everyone else enjoyed life and played their games thinking this would last for eternity, I spent my days working."  The tree replied.
"Working?"  I asked not really understanding what he meant.
"Everyday I would dig with my roots further and further down into the soil, while everyone enjoyed the rains from the top soil, I slaved and dug beneath me.  I tried to warn the others but they all ignored my warnings.  They believed that this place was eternal.  They were right, but eternal in death as in life!"  He stated without remorse.
"So where did you dig too?"  I asked.
"I found a reservoir underneath this place, a few miles down.  It took me 150 years to get there.  When you were born I knew that you would leave, so I did not want to give you a false hope.  I felt the burn on the top of my branches.  The branches and leaves at the top were always brown, but I was the biggest the tree and nobody could see the damage from the hot sun.  So I let you go without ever telling you this place would not be alive in a century.  I didn't think you would return."  The tree said.
"Why wouldn't I return, my parents are buried here, my grandparents, this is my home.  So what will become of you?"  I asked.
"I have made new friends with the algae in the reservoir, and they tell me this happens and then it will rebound in a couple hundred years.  So if I can sit here in silence with no one to talk too and drink from the reservoir I will survive.  However, it is not for certain, I will surely get mad or crazy without words from others.  But I am determined to try and survive.  You coming back has given me a new hope, that maybe things really do turn around and come back, like one big circle."  He said.
"Maybe they do!"  I replied.
"Well have a seat next to my trunk and enjoy the shade, the temperature is rising.  Stay awhile, there is enough food and water for you stay until that fateful day of yours.  Besides I could use the company."  The tree said.
"I would be glad too."  I replied.
The landscape was filled with sand and dead carcasses of plants long gone.  The conversations between us went on for a few months, but even I had to succumb to death.  My body was weary and frail.  I whispered to my friend on that last day before I quit breathing..."I never thought I would live to see this place again.  Thank you for teaching me life..."
The last thing I felt was the ground open beneath me, and I was swallowed up by that sandy landscape.  The tree of life was planted by my Great-Grandfather 50 years before I was born, and he saw to it that I learned that life is fragile in all forms...I am speaking to you from a different place, but my body has died, and the soul lives on to try and warn those who believe life will be here tomorrow so what's the point of doing anything today!  This is a false sense of security, and only those that continue to work for a solution will still be around to take care of those lives that will be back...