Trees - Nature's Gift to Man
Acacia trees, Ateneo de Manila University QC
Acacia trees, Ateneo de Manila University QC
By Anna Rotor
We grow up with trees.
We want them to grow big;
we want them to be around us;
to give us shade in which we play;
to give us strong trunk and branches
on which we climb and swing and laugh;
to give us fruits which make us full,
healthy and strong;
medicine to make us well;
wood that keeps our body warm,
cooks our food;
leaves to keep our air clean
and to whisper and sing
and dance with the breeze;
and above all,
to give us aesthetic beauty
through which we feel
how lucky we are alive.
How irrational would it be to kill a tree,
even if we reason out that we need its wood,
its bark, its roots, its flowers and fruits and seeds,
to keep us alive!
It is a paradox
that for us to survive and progress,
we kill the host of life –
life of birds that build nest on its branches,
passersby who find respite
from the beating sun,
a myriad of small life forms
from insects to lizards
that find a home
and harbor on its roots and crown.
What a paradox
if we kill the tree that gives us oxygen
that brings down the cloud as rain,
that keeps the environment cool, clean and green
to kill a friend,
a companion and a guardian,
the link of our earth and sun,
God and His Son.
Excerpt from a speech of Anna Rotor, then
16 years old at School of St. Anthony QC, 1999.
