People and Trees

It has been awhile since I've last written and things are finally starting to slow down in my life. Fourth quarter of senior year in high school... where everyone just floats and waits until graduation. Where did it all go? There is less than 15 school days left and less than a week until prom. At first this year seemed to drag on, yet now it seems that our time here is running out. In my senior year I've started talking to a lot of people that I haven't normally talked to in the past. If you can get past the social barriers established in the past you can get to know some really great people that you haven't ever really gotten the chance to talk to before. What bothers me though is that sometimes other people live in the mindset of the past and still hold the judgement on people that they made years and years ago. So here's my little analogy:

In a way I think people are like trees. As a tree grows, new layers are added to the outside surface in order to widen the tree's girth and make it stronger. The tree grows thicker and taller over time, yet those layers beneath still exist.

From the time we are born to the time we die, we (humans) are ceaselessly changing. As we mature, new layers are added one after another, however we keep the core of who we are. It's right there, deep inside of us. And within these layers we hold our memories. The little girl who played on the swing-set, or the adolescent boy who had dreams of becoming a major league baseball player are still there.

If you were to look at a cross-section of a tree, you might see cracks and scars within its woody interior. Our layers bare our scars as well and they make us who we are, despite the fact that we may hide them well. Without these layers which hold our experiences and are the substance of our lives, we wouldn't be the people that we are today. Without a glimpse into the layers of other people, you can never really see someone for who they truly are.

So next time you look at someone and start to judge by what you merely see...look deeper. That person has a past just like you do. They have layers beneath that surface that you see on the exterior. And although some of those layers may be rough around the edges, nicked a little bit, or maybe even scarred... the core is all that matters. They could be a kind, considerate, amazing person. Knowing that and being able to know them is worth so much more than leaning towards superficial tendencies.