What we learn from being there

#hopecast #hope #forest #wildfires #eviafires2021

Just a few days before the fires in Evia island began, I wrote down notes describing the importance of trees. That lead to notes about some of the things we learn from observing nature. By being present.

It breaks my heart to know that the fires are still very much burning in Evia (and all over the world actually), that I am away from the people that we shared home with for the last period of time and that a lot of anger and grief will follow these events.

I wish to share with all these notes because for me they have become a foundation.

What can a tree teach us?

We seek for its protection, we are part of nature trying to find shelter.

Every branch, all the leaves when grown naturally are designed to absorb the precious light and transform that into energy. Everything is purposeful.

When I look a t a tree, the idea of time enters my thoughts. I look at it and wonder all of the circumstances that it has endured. I look at an old olive tree and try to imagine them standing at the same place when war was taking place. All of the creatures that sat against the trunk, sheltered for a night or more. So much life has touched this tree.

I try to imagine the thin layer of life of a tree, while most of it being carbon. That layer supports the continuity of it being alive. The transfer of energy from up to down and visa versa.

Things we learn from the sea

Some things need some time to show effect, like the ripples of a ship on the shore. The ship has passed and the waves gather some time after.

The sea has a strong character. It is what it is. No-one can control it. It overflows with confidence and shows most vulnerable in its calmest moments. Every creature adapts to that fact and go on with their lives accordingly.

The sea no matter how much it has been explored, it still feels like the great unknown. It facilitates creatures that our fantasy may not even sketch. Endless possibilities.

That balance is necessary. Everything is because the laws of nature allow it. We take for granted that the water remains as the sea and that gravity will do its work all the time. What if one day it doesn’t?

What we learn from the sky

The clouds are unique. There are so many of them and not a single one is the same with another. Sometimes, it’s hard to say where one ends and another begins.

The clouds usually have animal shape. They seem to take the form that we give them but it only lasts for few seconds.

The stars is as far in the distance as we can see. Either of space or time. The light of a star that once was keeps on traveling into space. Maybe nothing is really gone.

What older people can teach us

That things don’t really matter in the end. Most of the worries are completely meaningless when all it matters are the connections we managed. The kindness we spread. The trash we picked up, the smiles we gifted.