One autumn day, I found myself in the park, captivated by a very small, lovely heart-shaped leaf. It was almost red in color, barely clinging to the branch, as if it was about to fall. I spent a long time with it, asking it many questions. I discovered that the leaf was the mother to the tree. We usually think of the tree as the mother, and the leaves as just the children, but observing the leaf, I realized that it too is a mother to the tree. The plant sap extracted by the roots contains only water and minerals, which are not sufficient to feed the tree. The tree then transfers this plant sap to the leaves, and the leaves carefully process it and with the help of sunlight and air, send it back to the tree to nourish it. Therefore, the leaf is also a mother to the tree. Since the leaf is connected to the tree through the stem, it is easy to notice the communication between them.
We no longer have a stem connecting us to our mother, but when we were in her womb, we had a very long stem, the umbilical cord. The oxygen and food we needed came to us through that stem. The day we When we were born, the umbilical cord was cut, and we got the impression that we became independent. That is not true. We continue to rely on our mother for a long time, and we have many other mothers. The Earth is our mother. We have many connections that tie us to our Mother Earth. There are ties that connect us to the clouds. Without clouds, there would be no water for us to drink. We consist of at least seventy percent water, and the tie between the clouds and us truly exists. The same goes for the river, the forest, the lumberjack, and the farmer. There are hundreds of thousands of ties that connect us to everything in the universe, supporting us and enabling us to exist. Do you see the connection between you and me? If there is no you, there is no me. That’s for sure. If you still don’t see it, please look deeper, and I am sure you will see.
I asked the leaf if it was afraid because it is autumn and other leaves are falling. The leaf told me: “No. Throughout the whole spring and summer, I was completely alive. I worked hard to help feed the tree, and now there is much of me in the tree. I am not limited by its form. I am also the whole tree, so when I return to the ground, I will continue to nourish the tree. That’s why I’m not worried at all. As I leave this branch and fall to the ground, I will wave to the tree and say, “See you soon.”
On that day, the wind was blowing strongly and after some time, I saw a leaf leaving the branch and falling to the ground, joyfully dancing; because as it fell, it already saw itself in the tree. It was so happy. I bowed my head, knowing that I have much more to learn from that leaf.
Thich Nhat Hanh, Peace is Every Step