The Message of the Tree

THE MESSAGE OF THE TREE

by Antonio C. Antonio

August 14, 2014

I saw this photo on the Facebook wall of my friend, Ms. Beth Celis.   (I am certain though that Beth wouldn’t mind me using her photo in this article.)  I took a long close look at it and the longer I stared, the more intrigued I became. 

Sometimes, some unusual pictures on the Internet are hard to trust.  Advances in technology have given us the ability to digitally change images.  Whether this photo was “photoshopped” or not is something I cannot say for certain.  Anyway, let’s just accept the picture for whatever it visually shows… besides, the tree could really have this shape or have been cropped by the photographer before actually taking shots of it.

In the photo is a singular tree shaped in the image of a man’s head in the middle of a pasture land.  In the background are a few cows grazing… and further in the background are a row of trees… and furthermore in the horizon is the faint image of higher grounds.  The central figure, however, in the picture is the tree.  What does it symbolize?

Different people looking at exactly the same picture will have different thoughts and emotions. Their reactions will vary and will largely be influenced by differences in culture, background, religion and emotional state when the image is being viewed.  I earnestly cannot venture into the perspectives and opinions of others but for me, as a loyal student of environment and natural resources management, I will view it with a pair of environmental eyes and think of it with an environmental mindset.  I will always view this picture as a singular tree that was once a part of a forest but now stands alone.  The forest is now gone for the land to support another life-giving role as a grazing area for the nutritional needs of other herbivores (such as cows). 

Going into the deeper meaning of the photo… Why is the tree in the image of a man?  Why is this tree standing all by its lonesome; away from the other trees in the background?  Is it because this symbolizes man and his relative isolation?  Is it because man has isolated himself by cutting down the forest around him?  Is it a happy or remorseful image of a man?  Does the tree long for the past and now wants to be part of a bigger community of trees?  What is the tree, in the likeness of a man, trying to tell us?  All these questions and, perhaps, a dozen more (in your mind right now) could represent the deeper meaning of the photo.  What really is the message of the tree?

Just my little thoughts…

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