A Work of Art by Nature

The park where I once took my daily walk had a paved walking trail with a small hill or two for a challenging workout.

I usually parked my car in a particular parking space and walked the trail the same way each day. But one particular day, my parking spot was taken and I parked someplace else. In doing so, it brought to my attention a tree. One I had probably walked by before but never bothered to notice.

It was a pretty tree. In winter it was easy to see where new leaves and blooms would grow in the spring. But that wasn't what made the tree unique. It was the shape in which the tree had grown that caught my attention.

A short tree it had begun rightly enough. The trunk of the tree was firmly planted in the ground but nature had taken over and the trunk curved to the right. In the midst of growing, the trunk further "dipped" into something of a curly-q; like the right side of the cursive letter 'y'. It "dipped" upward and continued growing.

I studied that tree for some length of time before getting out of my car. I was amazed. Nature had done this. Nature made this tree unique and different from its surrounding neighbors, but had allowed the tree to grow all the same. Nature determined how that tree would grow. The tree merely followed the design set upon it by nature.

As I admired the tree for its stamina and fortitude to grow and survive and admired Nature for allowing it to do so, I realized it was similar with people.

Nature predetermines much about each person she gives us: skin, eye and hair color, bone structure, height, disposition, sexuality. Nature has already determined so many aspects of this person. People then grow this child, shape this child. Oftentimes, people try to change this child in direct conflict with Nature's design.

For example, when a child displays left-handedness, people often attempt to force the child to use his or her right hand. Why? Because we live in a 'right-handed' world. Rather than change the status quo, people attempt to change the child - in direct conflict with nature's design for that child.

I wonder, if this were not so, how that child would grow? Would that child turn out as unique and enthralling as the tree at which I was gazing? Would the person they become be able to co-exist with their surrounding "trees"? Would their surrounding "trees" be able to accept them?

The tree - this little crooked tree - held an invaluable lesson for humanity. It successfully co-existed with surrounding trees. In no way was its own beauty, or the beauty of its neighboring trees, diminished by its being different. The uniqueness of this particular tree, its individuality, set it apart by design and its design enhanced the beauty of the surrounding trees. No one of them was any more - nor any less - beautiful or necessary than the other. Hence, nature became the artist.

As it is with people. Each person is unique in his or her own way. Nature has determined it. The uniqueness and individuality of one person should not be diminished by that of another person. The beauty of an individual is not diminished by the difference of the individual. And the beauty of the individual is capable of enhancing the beauty of surrounding individuals.

Yet people and society feel that that which nature has constructed has an obligation to conform. Why must we try to change what nature has constructed? Nature, in its infinite wisdom and influenced by the hand of God, knows what it is doing. What makes society think it knows better than nature?

By putting labels on people, standing in judgment of people and ostracizing people on the basis of their differences, and forcing individuals to conform, society oppresses the beauty which Nature implanted. By asking individuals to conform to to society's status quo, nature's design is suppressed. As a result of this, the tree may grow straight and tall, but it comes nowhere near reaching its full potential.

We should appreciate what nature gives us - from the trees she provides for aesthetic reasons to the people she provides as invaluable resources. We should open our eyes to the uniqueness and individuality of each person, regardless of their differences. Our differences are what make each and every one of us a work of art by nature.