By Paulo Coelho
A carpenter and his apprentices were travelling through the province of Qi in search of building materials. They saw a giant tree; five men all holding hands could not encompass its girth, and its crown reached almost to the clouds.
‘Let’s not waste our time with this tree,’ said the master carpenter. ‘It would take us for ever to cut it down. If we wanted to make a ship out of that heavy trunk, the ship would sink. If we tried to use it to build a roof, the walls would have to be specially reinforced.’
The group continued on its way. One of the apprentices remarked:
‘Such a big tree and no use to anyone!’
‘That’s where you’re wrong,’ said the master carpenter. ‘The tree was true to its own destiny. If it had been like all the others, we would have cut it down. But because it had the courage to be different, it will remain alive and strong for a long time yet.’
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Yours is a clever way of tihknnig about it.
Karen,
I wander, why you said that???
I’m not sure if I got it right?
love
Agnieszka
Agnieszka,
You’d love Kentucky!!! The women here are, “normal” which means dependent, by Kentucky standards. Fitting, seeing as to where most of the men here didn’t have strong mothers. They’d love you!:)
Its true of human nature that if you are different, they do “want to cut you down” to size. Its a strange phenomenon really. I think it confuses them or unsettles them because they don’t like the fact that they cannot understand. They want you to be one of the sheep, silently moving in groups in the one direction.
I agree with the story and with the message because in this world you could oly get respect if people think you look like repectable.
Good One! But what is the tree’s destiny? To remain alive and strong, yet alone, for long?
Perfect timing
Be true to one self..point taken ..blessing Tania
Such a beautiful story, thank You.
Dare to be different….:-)
Yes, it’s worth the whole world, I would say, but you have to be prepared to be hurt too.
It’s never easy, especially if you’re around people who are “normal”.
You have to believe, yes…
you have to believe in… God, that always help, brings you hope, understanding, brings you love,
and this love ..will show you the way.
The way to the beautiful, sunny day, the way to the Light,
and where is Light, there’s no darkness, nobody can harm you.
love
Agnieszka
ps. I stand corrected “5″ men couldn’t handle this tree. It would take much too long to cut down. Most men are too small for such a job. Instead they’ll continue to pick up the tree limbs to make them feel bigger and stronger. Scraps!;)
A lot of talk over just ONE tree. So big it’d take three men to cut it down???
That must be one mighty fine tree. Too much tree for any one man to handle… Unless of course he was BIG. Mr. Big, yep that’s who I’d assign to that tree. Walk along boys, walk along.
I like it! Please give me more of that!
I think this happens very often, that men spare life in awe of creation. This is a moment where humans identify themselves with the lifeform they want kill. They share for a moment the point of view of a tree, an animal, mushroom…