Memorable Passage

“Then one day the boy came to the tree and the tree said, Come, Boy, come and climb up my trunk and swing from my branches and eat apples and play in my shade and be happy.”

“I am too big to climb and play,” said the boy. “I want to buy things and have fun. I want some money. Can you give me some money?”

“I’m sorry,” said the tree, “but I have no money. Take my apples, Boy, and sell them in the city. Then you will have money and you will be happy.”

And so the boy climbed up the tree and gathered her apples and carried them away.

And the tree was happy.

This paragraph is really emotional for me. It reminds me of my mother and how much I ask of her. Talking with her yesterday about this project, I asked her what her most favorite of all time book was. At the end of the discussion, she turned to me and said, The Giving Tree. I reflected on that children’s short story, and I read it for the first time in probably six years.

When I read the paragraph, it really hit home how the tree was willing to do anything to see happiness in the boy she loved. I also was hit hard by the boy saying how the power to buy things and have fun would make him happy. It reminded me of how so many people believe that money is the answer to everything and that it will eventually make them happy. This conclusion even led me to one of my favorite movies, “The Pursuit of Happyness”, where a father changes his life to provide for his son, and realizes what really matters in life.

Going back to what we talked about yesterday when Laura mentioned reading a book at different points in your life, I thought that this book just might be a good one to reread over and over and over again.