If you were like me growing up, then you loved the story "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein (read the ebook here). It's a children's book, but it's a story that can be appreciated by even those who are not young at heart. Maybe I shouldn't say I loved the book because at times it made me very sad. However, I think that is good. Good because it means that it was speaking to me and teaching me those all important life lessons. Words that even the most articulate and poetic of those surrounding me were not able to convey to me. Forgive me for quoting Hillary Clinton (because I can't stand her), "it takes a village to raise a child". Well I tend to feel that it may of taken just this book to raise me. If you have never read this book, I highly suggest you do, no matter if you are 5 or 85.
"Once there was a tree and she loved a little boy"...so begins a story of unforgettable perception that is beautifully written with just a few words and illustrated by the simplest of lines. Everyday the boy would come to the tree to eat her apples, swing from her branches or slide down her trunk...and the tree was happy. But as the boy grew older he began to want more from the tree and the tree gave and gave and gave, until there was nothing more to give...or was there? It's a story that is touched with sadness, aglow with consolation. The author has created a moving parable for readers of all ages that offers an affecting interpretation of the gift of giving and a serene acceptance of another's capacity to love in return.
To say that this particular apple tree is a "giving tree" is an understatement. The tree starts out as a leafy playground, shade provider and apple bearer for a rambunctious little boy. Making the boy happy makes the tree happy, but with time it becomes more challenging for the generous tree to meet his needs. When he asks for money, she suggests that he sell her apples. When he asks for a house, she offers her branches for lumber. When the boy is old, too old and sad to play in the tree, he asks the tree for a boat. She suggests that he cut her down to a stump so he can craft a boat out of her trunk. He unthinkingly does it. At this point in the story, the double-page spread shows a pathetic solitary stump, poignantly cut down to the heart the boy once carved into the tree as a child that said "M.E. + T." "And then the tree was happy... but not really." When there's nothing left of her, the boy returns again as an old man, needing a quiet place to sit and rest. The stump offers up her services and he sits on it. "And the tree was happy." While the message of this book is unclear (Take and take and take? Give and give and give? Complete self-sacrifice is good? Complete self-sacrifice is infinitely sad?), the author has perhaps deliberately left the book open to interpretation. That to me is what makes this story and the lessons it teaches so amazing.
So what does this book have to do with "Old Man Baker"? Well yesterday morning, I once again passed the old man. Just like the prior Thursday, he was once again hunched over sweeping the sidewalk outside his store. His head was also once again down, with wind burned hands tightly gripping the broom. Like last week, I once again said hello, but this time he didn't seem to hear me. Perhaps he wasn't ready to speak. Whatever the case may be, I decided that today would not be a day I would strike up a conversation with the old man. Today would be a day I would observe. As I stood on the street corner with all the "suits and ties" who more than likely were on their way into the law office just 2 blocks away, I observed the group of attorneys and "Old Man Baker". Some of the lawyers were sipping their morning latté while others were fumbling with their newspapers and checking messages on their cell phones. Then out of the corner of my eye, there was the old man. I noticed his right hand trembling as he switched his grip on the broom handle. It was made of wood that was cracked down the middle and splintering at the edges. His hands appeared red and cold. The trembling in his fingers became obvious even from a 10 foot distance.
Just before traffic came to a hault giving me a chance to cross over the street, I watched a boy approach the old man. The boy looked to be about 10-years-old. He tapped the old man on the shoulder and a short discussion took place. I couldn't hear what was said, but I watched as the old man reached in his coat pocket, the same coat that was lightly covered in flour dust from the bakery. After a few seconds he pulled his trembling hand back out of his pocket and looked at it. The contents in his hand were empty. He then proceeded to lift his jacket some and reach into his front pants pocket. He fumbled around for a few seconds more and pulled out what appeared to be a $1 dollar bill and some loose coins. Change is all he gave the boy and quickly the boy shouted thanks and took off running down the street with his backpack swinging behind him.
Just like The Giving Tree book, I'm going to leave this story open to interpretation. There are a number of ways I can go with this and show you the lessons I was shown in real life, rather than reading them in a book. However, I think it may be more beneficial if I let you ponder this for yourself. Think about "Old Man Baker". Think about this little unknown boy that approached him. Think of the act I witnessed. Think of me as I have grown up from being a little boy, into a teenager, into an adult and one day will be an old man myself. Think of the age difference between me and "Old Man Baker" and think of how I've been intrigued enough with this old man to approach him each week, hoping to know the man hiding underneath that tattered coat with the trembling fingers. Is he a real life "Giving Tree"? Am I a "Giving Tree" from a different era? Are we all "Giving Trees" of give and take from all different generations?
With such simple words and drawings "The Giving Tree" conveys such a strong message of love. You can never be too old for this book. At different points in your life it can mean different things to you from when you're struggling with difficult issues in your life, to when things are going well. We've all been the tree and the boy at one time in our lives. I ask myself, what time is it now? I've spent that 1 second and in a blink of an eye, it has opened up a whole new world. A world that before now I only ever read about in a book. Now I may be really seeing it for the first time. Now I may be living it. The Giving Tree is once again growing.
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