In the area where I lived in Vancouver, there’s a place called the Sea Walk. One of its sides is the ocean and it’s such a good-looking place to walk. I was walking there one day, and the weather was very nice. I saw that the chairs were named on their owners, the name of those people who had donated chairs to the people and the city. As I walked, I thought I would plant a tree too, no one had asked me, but I wanted to leave a memory there and then see it grow and bear fruit.
I chose a seed to make a useful tree. I found a special place and dug the ground to plant the seeds. When I wanted to plant the seeds, I saw that the plant was grass, a beautiful uniform grass, and there was a big and strong tree. Whatever I thought, I saw it was useless! Would you want to know why? Because if I plant that seed, after a while the seed will become saturated and start to grow, until it comes out of the soil. At a stage of growth, a lawn mower comes and cuts it. Because here is grass and it’s all consistent, it’s all falling apart. The seedling tries to grow again, to rise, next time it will rise earlier, again the lawnmower comes and without knowing it, it cuts it and it becomes the same size as the other grass, it grows one or two centimeters tall. Eventually the tree gets tired, because the nature of a tree is not like grass, the nature of a tree is not short. The nature of trees is height and freedom. A free tree cannot grow in grass, especially grass that wants to be cut down frequently.
I remembered the system and environment in which we grow up. I made a cold sweat! I was sweating cold because I felt how many children grow up in a family and city where a lawn mower in the name of culture, a lawn mower in the name of habits, a lawn mower in the name of education, in the name of lessons, school and university, it destroys all their talents, abilities and energy. We all put our children into this cultural, social and living system and do not understand the simple fact that some trees are tall, some are medium and some are shady.
One child is talented in music, one in poetry, one becomes a philosopher, one likes to draw, one is interested in industry and one becomes an inventor. These are different and we must respect them. This cultural machine, this machine of societal power, takes our children in and gives them out all the same. Everyone has a bachelor, master, doctorate, diploma and they are all the same!
Dear friends, pay attention: what a disaster we are bringing upon ourselves in the name of education, culture, social beliefs, respect for customs and traditions! We all want to be engineers, doctors. Without knowing why we were created? Why was I created? Why was this child of mine born? What is he talented at? What is his message to this world? What is your message to this world? What is my message to the world?
We are human, we must be able to respect differences, and we must accept differences. It is impossible to find a place in the world that is a lawn. These lawns are our own creation. There are plants that are 20 centimeters tall and there are trees that are 50 meters tall. Their nature is different and the beauty of life lies in these differences. The beauty of the world is that you and I are different and have different views. Let’s learn to respect each other, accept each other, I don’t want you to be like me and you don’t want me to be like you. Let us learn that it is these differences that create movement in life, these differences create beauty. Your first child is different from your second. Your neighbor’s child is different from yours, we are all different. While we are all human beings, if we all supposed to be the same, if we all thought the same, if we all acted the same, the world would be a very tasteless place.
