In honour of Nora Bateson’s Warm Data Lab, which I’m gratefully learning how to host, here’s a post I wrote in 2021.
This is a tree.
It is not the same as any other tree.
If you asked a child to “draw a tree” it probably wouldn’t look exactly like this one.
It was born from a seed, but that seed didn’t know or decide what the tree looks like now.
Every year, this tree has grown new leaves and absorbed water from the soil around it.
It has more leaves on one side than the other. Its branches are gnarled. Some have broken.
This tree has weathered droughts and snow and rain storms. It has bent to the wind and stretched to find more of the sun.
Looking at this tree, do you think, “This tree should be more like another tree. It should be straight, or smaller, or have different bark. It’s not as good as other trees.” ?
This tree is beautiful.
This tree is you.