Tears and Tree Spirits

Anna and Tyrus were here on Sunday for a visit. We have been taesing Tyrus for sometime to bring his ax when he comes to help split logs. We lost a elm tree in Hurricane Isabel last year it has been laying by the barn seasoning until this year. Dad and Tyrus decided to start spliting..... Musa was out watching.

I noticed Musa walking around the yard looking upset. I called him in and asked what was wrong. He repeatedly said nothing was but it was obvious from a Mom's point of view, there was. I continued to push and he started crying. Sobbing. He collapsed in my arms.  He finally pulled himself together enough to tell me. He said that Tyrus had "chopped" a tree. After much discussion and detective work it turned out that Tyrus had tossed the ax at a tree, sticking the ax in the tree trunk. Musa was horrified as he felt the tree was in pain and was now injured. He was devastated. He couldn't understand how Tyrus could hurt a tree.

This went back to a Earth Day celebration we had at the house last spring. We had decorated a tree and made a cool path leading up to the tree and the kids were asked to approach the tree, ask it permission to approach, and then hug the tree and feel it's spirit. Musa had a very positive experience that day and now feels very strongly that trees have spirits and feel pain. He has vowed not to hurt them.

We spent time discussing how different people feel about things. We explained that when Tyrus was growing up firewood was a source of heat and so he may have grown up with a different idea about trees. Musa seemed very relieved to know that Tyrus had not done this as a malicious act, but rather out of a different belief system. He put it to rest and went about his day. He was reassured that we would watch the tree closely and provide first aid as necessary.

Tragic as this was for Musa it was an enlightening experience for me. I sometimes have looked at my son and wonder how much of the "Barrett" spirit is within him. Today I saw that it was alive and well. Little does he know this is the beginning of his life as an activist, always fighting for the downtrodden and misunderstood.