I See A Hugging Tree

I SEE A HUGGING TREE

Today’s hike brought us to the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk in the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. I’ve come to know all too well that there are lessons to be learned on every adventure. I believe this is God’s reward to us for daring to venture out and witness first hand all the beauty He has created for us in lieu of taking this for granted and never bothering to look. Along the trail, we ran into this hugging tree. Shortly after taking a picture of this peculiar yet hopeful looking tree, I was corrected when someone pointed out this was not a hugging tree but rather a Strangler Fig. I immediately thought, wow, how aggressive. Intrigued, I stopped to read the story behind how this specimen got its name. It turns out that this tree begins as an epiphyte or an air plant, and a seed is deposited at the top of the host tree. Once the seed sprouts, roots are sent down that are entwined and often strangle the host tree. Once the roots reach the ground, the tree changes from an air plant to a terrestrial plant, often causing the host tree to die. Now, I am not a Botanist or an Arborist, in fact, probably the person farthest from either of these that you will ever know. Therefore, I will in no way argue the validity of this theory. However, I wonder if this ‘hug’ fig, in its air-plant state, chooses to implant itself in a tree which is sick or not destined to last very long. What if this fig proceeds to take its evolutionary course but instead ends up hugging this tree for all of eternally and in that embrace, allows that tree to live

instead of waste away?

I realize that this perception may make me certifiable however, this looks so much more to me like a loving embrace than a death-provoking stranglehold. I guess my point is that, whether this is a Strangler Fig or a Hugging Fig, all depends on the eye of the beholder. It is our choice (regardless of what we are told to see or think or believe) to see it, think of it or believe through the lens as either an optimist or a pessimist, but through OUR OWN lens. The choice is ours and ours alone. It appears to me that so much more effort is put into telling us what to think than to showing us how to think for ourselves; that we are being programmed to think that negativity is more entertaining than positivity; that we are being encoded to believe in limitations instead of the truth which is that our possibilities are endless and boundless; that we are being trained to fit in these boxes which are growing smaller and smaller everyday instead of being guided and lead to the understanding that these boxes do not exist anywhere except in our own minds and that life begins the minute we step out of these boxes. Your choice is yours. I for one chose optimism, I choose hope, I choose unlimited possibilities and I choose to see a

HUGGING TREE!