Same Tree, Two Paths

After a long day, filled with classes, studying, meetings, and conversations that drained me, I decided it would be good to take a walk. I took the long way around campus, looping in between the library and Robert Carr Chapel. Then I followed the sidewalk along University Drive back towards home, where the shake oaks and foliage lifted their arms up over the walkways as if to shelter us from sun and rain. 

It was a cloudy day, but warm. Spring was coming soon, although the grass had yet to green up. As I passed the Winston-Scott Building, something caught my eye--twin Texas live oaks. These were a little bit younger than the large ones on University, nonetheless majestic. But what stuck out to me wasn't the trees individually, but the way they were paired together. 

Both stood as the natural gate towards the science building, making a grand entrance. However, the tree on the left side was a tad smaller, and its branches and canopy condensed inward, like a cloud. On the other hand, the oak on the right spread its branches large and long, stretching as if it had just woken up in the morning. Its canopy was also about twice as high as the oak on the left. It was almost as if the left oak inhaled, while the right exhaled. Or, the left oak shrank to protect, while the large oak expanded in growth and freedom. 

No particular tree was right, and maybe the tree on the left is just simply younger. But assuming they are of similar age, it made me think about how near-identical circumstances can lead to vastly different outcomes, depending on how you respond to the world. 



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