"When we consider what, to use the words of the catechism, is the chief end of man, and what are the true necessaries and means of life, it appears as if men had deliberately chosen the common mode of living because they preferred it to any other. Yet they honestly think there is no choice left. But alert and healthy natures remember that the sun rose clear. It is never too late to give up our prejudices. No way of thinking or doing, however ancient, can be trusted without proof. What everybody echoes or in silence passes by as true today may turn out to be falsehood tomorrow, mere smoke of opinion..."

—Henry David Thoreau, Walden, 1854

The Seedling

by C. T. Roman-Ore, posted on July 12, 2017

A little seedling sprouted deep in the forest. His fellows also came up around him. They said to the seedling, "Why do you stand all to yourself? Sing and dance with us."

The seedling replied firmly, "I would like to be the tallest tree in the forest and see the sun."

They laughed at him and mocked him chanting, "The sun does not shine on the forest floor, our time is short, enjoy."

But the little seedling planted his roots firmly and refused to play with his fellows. He spread his leaves to catch the dull, smattering of light his elders left him.

The years passed and the seedling grew ever so slowly. He watched his fellows shrivel, one by one for lack of sunlight, and further resolved his determination saying to himself, "Our elders have no pity for us, they will not let us grow."

One day, one of the seedling's elders let a ray of sunshine slip through. The waiting seedling caught that ray and held it. Unlike his fellows, the seedling didn't die but grew on that ray of sunshine, for each day that ray came back to him.

The years passed more quickly till the day he reached the height of his elders and saw the sun. But they did not welcome the newly grown tree and said among themselves, "He thinks he can be like us, but we will not mingle with him." The newly grown tree did not mind, for they now gave him more room and each day he saw the sun.

He hardened his determination to be the tallest and soon outpaced his elders, who had stopped to rest centuries ago. They tried to emulate him, but their reflexes had dulled. He kept striving to be the tallest and was soon looking over the whole forest.

The eagle nestled in the branches of the once little seedling and crowned him Lord of all the forest. The determined Lord liked what he saw and kept on reaching.