Trees

Good Morning.

I’ve been adapting to life after a broken knee—twice—and have finally stopped fighting with my crutches. But the greatest challenge has been my absolute reliance on other people. I can be stubbornly independent, and it took this recent mishap to drive home how important it is to have other people in my life.

Some might view needing others as weakness. I see it as a strength, especially when we actively learn to rely on each other. This idea was reinforced for me in reading the work of Suzanne Simard, a scientist born into a logging family in the Pacific Northwest, who spent over 30 years researching trees and connections between and within species. Dr. Simard proved how trees look after each other-even nurturing more vulnerable saplings - through the relationships they have with fungi that live on and around the roots. A lone tree cannot thrive like a tree surrounded by 'relatives' and other species. And it will die without the nutrients that fungi help supply.

The Rabbis teach 'that if not for the trees, human life could not exist'. I think this is not just about oxygen. Trees teach us that we need each other to thrive. Human beings do not do as well on their own as they do when they are in relationship with each other.

May we not need the lesson of a broken knee, but only look to the trees, to realise just how much we need each other to flourish.