The Tree On The Hill

Years ago, a wind storm blew an acorn up a hill, where it rested leaning against a rock. Soon after that, a squirrel buried the acorn, hoping to eat it later. As many mighty oaks realize, many squirrels never return, or was that the squirrel’s plan?

It’s circumstances and the intentions of others that determine our fate — or is it? Was the squirrel determined to bury the acorn for future food, or did the squirrel bury the acorn for a future tree to provide more acorns for food? People and squirrels have some things in common. Both prepare, and both species have participants who prepare for quick gains and those who use planning and patience as a strategy to gain more.

We can all see and realize that which is easy; this is living in the present. It’s what do I get now? Versus what do gain if I wait? Too many see waiting as a punishment, and these are always pessimistic people. The optimist recognizes patience as a reward. However, they also understand that patience can be easily high jacked by reluctance. An optimist will not allow that to happen, and a pessimist fuels their reluctance with their impatience. Some have no vision of the future, and those who understand survival like our furry squirrel friends see the future as a result of what we do today.

None of us know if the acorn the squirrel buried was to grow a tree, or was the squirrel simply too slow crossing the highway at the bottom of the hill and never returned to eat it? Humans have the capacity to understand that the future is what we make it. The future for each of us will be balanced by the forces around us. We can be reluctant, pessimistic, or impatient in reaching it. However, we all reach our future the day we die, providing we didn’t settle while amongst the living.

“Everyone gets the choice to remain on a quest or to settle. It’s their goals and their ability to replenish their ambitions that keep them from settling.”  

So let’s learn from the squirrel and plan for tomorrow. Everyone should plant more acorns, more than they could possibly eat, guaranteeing their legacy. Everyone should always look both ways when crossing traffic, because our best-made plans cannot survive if we neglect to protect ourselves from danger. It will be from how our plans played out that they will define what we did. Those who focus too much on what they must have today will become robotic. They will miss many opportunities to discover the benefits of what tomorrow can provide us when it’s planned. However, even the best-made plans must have the flexibility to be modified, as the forces of nature and things we cannot control attempt to block our path forward. Optimism guarantees us the ability to plan. Those pessimists we all know, who can’t see a new tree growing, will never see the need to plant one and will by their nature be as dangerous to the optimist as the car tire is to the squirrel. Sometimes you will be delayed by a pessimist, although your patience if planned will surely be rewarded.