When you walk through woods, you'll sense something for sure. Those tall trees cover the sky above you with their extended branches, and you'll see twinkling fragments of the sunlight through trembling leaves and hear the rustling sounds of leaves as a breeze passes. They have no blood that circulate inside their barks like most of creatures do, and they live much longer than we humans. They have no eyes, no ears, no nose, no mouth, no brain, no arms or legs, and no muscle within their stout built bodies. And yet, they are alive! Trees are mysterious, indeed.

    The other day, I went to a hotspring facility named Seiganji-no-yu. When I soaked myself lying on my back in a shallow open-air bath, I saw a couple of cherry trees completely leafless above my head. Then, suddenly an idea hit me.

    "Trees would change their appearances as seasons change, and it is determined by the laws of nature. Even if cherry blossoms tried to bloom in the winter, it would be impossible."

    Pretty much a common sense, isn't it? However, we humans sometimes lack those common sense for the blood that has a temperature, and it's often called emotions.

    When you think of it, cherry trees wouldn't make a vain effort to bloom when it's out of season, but we humans often make such efforts against the major stream. While trees are rooted deeply to the ground and calmly accept the environemental changes, we humans often try to move from one place to another, seeking for better conditions of life. It seems quite ridiculous if cherry trees try to blossom again and again when it's off seasn, but that's what we humans often do. And the weirdest fact is that: it sometimes works!

    Trees are calm, and they are beautiful. Watching them, at the same time, we learn how irrational and yet lovely we human beings are!

1. What can you learn from trees?

2. Do you usually pay attention to the rules of nature?