Planting tomorrow's seeds today
An old historic building in the Northeast United States was in desperate need of
repairs. Paint was peeling and there were water stains on the carpet where the roof
was beginning to leak. The central support beam, which ran the length of the great
hall, was cracking and at risk of collapsing. The caretakers agreed it was time
to do something, but the beam was so long and wide that it would be difficult to
replace.
A national search followed, searching for a hardwood tree large enough to withstand
the weight of the stone roof. Soon after the search began, however, one of the oldest
caretakers took the board on a walk through the woods surrounding the structure,
to the very edge of the property. There stood six towering trees, each as much as
a century old, and each sturdy and large enough to replace the old beam.
Some of the board members marveled that the solution to their problem lay just beyond
their noses, until the elder explained that the trees had been planted as saplings
when the hall was built, just for this anticipated need. They knew that, by the
time the original building began to weaken, the trees would be mature and ready
to serve their long-anticipated purpose.
It has been said that true generosity is planting trees under whose shade we will
never sit. Sometimes it's hard to imagine what the world will be like a hundred
years from now, but with a little bit of imagination and selfless effort we can
help plant the seeds that will become tomorrow's great forests.