Bonsai As A Trust

rockm

As Jim said, most of us probably don't really want to know the histories of the majority of our trees. Sitting around a nursery or in a growing field for two decades couldn't be all that exciting or compelling. Collected trees, unless they are very very old, likewise.

Far from having long Asian histories for our trees, I'd say many of us are giving our trees their histories. For instance, I collected a largish cedar elm from my parents' ranch a few years back. The collection party involved me, my brother, dad and three year old son. Me and dad sawed, cussed and kicked that old elm for two hours grubbing it out of the ground, while my brother and son (who both are smarter than me and dad) helped keep the inquisitive herd of cattle who inhabit the back 40 away from us. Since all of us now live in different parts of the country, the tree has become a symbol of sorts of my family and the unity we had that day.

The tree will probably never amount to a real good bonsai, but it will have lasting significance to me, no matter how ugly it remains and despite its non-descript past.

Advertisement

FredL

Jim Stone raises an interesting point: Keeping the "Schmaltze" out of bonsai. In all fairness, a point not without merit.

The last few months, I have turned my talents as an investor to the world of real estate. I will soon be working on my 5th deal, and I appear to definitely be making money om my first four. Believe me, I do not romanticize the properties I evaluate and I do not involve myself with anything that I can not make a profit on. In negotiating for properties and with prospective tennants, I am all in favor of creating "win/win" situations, but I am very clear that I can not make a deal unless there is a profit in it for me.

I guess it's fair to say that I do not allow "schmaltziness" to enter into my business dealings in even the slightest way. I suppose it's fair to say, I know the price of everything and care little for its "value", whatever that means.

And yet.....

I have read that among the American Indians, one of the criticisms that they leveled against the European settlers was that the settlers inhabited a world that was "dead". When I walk through the woods, an activity that always revives my spirits and lifts my mood, and contrast that with the feelings that a couple of hours of computer games leaves me with, I feel that I understand what they were talking about. Perhaps this is a clue to my irredeemable "smaltziness", but when I walk through even a small wooded tract, I feel the "aliveness" that I think the American Indians of olden times felt.

Similarly, when I spend an hour with my little trees, I feel their life and the life in the world around me. They don't have to be magnificent works of art for this to occur; I can feel that each of them, if cared for properly, may, in the fullness of its own time, become a magnificent work of art. This potential exists within it from its beginning and I can feel it. And I can feel the incredible unique value that each tree has, magnificent work of art or no.

I have alluded to this split in my character in the past. I do not choose one mode of being and perception as correct. But I also do not choose to belittle either mode as inferior and properly rejected.

Best regards, Fred