The Giving Tree

A new and already good friend of mine James Wardell introduced me to this story whilst we were brain storming about how to communicate ForestNation to the World. The Giving Tree, based on the book and drawings of Shel Silverstein.

There’s a lot to learn from this wonderful Tree that just wants to love and give, and when she can she is truly happy.  True happiness comes from giving and caring for others.  The pleasure is in giving and the sadness comes when all we do is take and give nothing in return.

I think this applies to us all as individuals and collectively as societies. If all we do is take from each other and take from nature we’ll never find what makes us happy or society healthy. If we give back to nature and increase the abundance of natural resources we’ll develop happier and healthier societies too.

If you see sadness in this story it’s because the giving is abused and not returned. We can stop making the same mistakes as the little boy, and it’s easy to make this change. It’s something that can happen inside each and every one of us.