THE MESSAGE OF THE TREE
by Antonio C. Antonio
August 14, 2014
I saw this photo on the Facebook wall of my friend, Ms. Beth
Celis. (I am certain though that Beth wouldn’t mind
me using her photo in this article.) I
took a long close look at it and the longer I stared, the more intrigued I
became.
Sometimes, some unusual pictures on the Internet are hard to
trust. Advances in technology have given
us the ability to digitally change images.
Whether this photo was “photoshopped” or not is something I cannot say
for certain. Anyway, let’s just accept
the picture for whatever it visually shows… besides, the tree could really have
this shape or have been cropped by the photographer before actually taking
shots of it.
In the photo is a singular tree shaped in the image of a
man’s head in the middle of a pasture land.
In the background are a few cows grazing… and further in the background
are a row of trees… and furthermore in the horizon is the faint image of higher
grounds. The central figure, however, in
the picture is the tree. What does it
symbolize?
Different people looking at exactly the same picture will have
different thoughts and emotions. Their reactions will vary and will largely be
influenced by differences in culture, background, religion and emotional state
when the image is being viewed. I
earnestly cannot venture into the perspectives and opinions of others but for
me, as a loyal student of environment and natural resources management, I will
view it with a pair of environmental eyes and think of it with an environmental
mindset. I will always view this picture
as a singular tree that was once a part of a forest but now stands alone. The forest is now gone for the land to
support another life-giving role as a grazing area for the nutritional needs of
other herbivores (such as cows).
Going into the deeper meaning of the photo… Why is the tree
in the image of a man? Why is this tree
standing all by its lonesome; away from the other trees in the background? Is it because this symbolizes man and his
relative isolation? Is it because man
has isolated himself by cutting down the forest around him? Is it a happy or remorseful image of a man? Does the tree long for the past and now wants
to be part of a bigger community of trees?
What is the tree, in the likeness of a man, trying to tell us? All these questions and, perhaps, a dozen
more (in your mind right now) could represent the deeper meaning of the
photo. What really is the message of the
tree?
Just my little thoughts…
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