The Seed

The seed was once a part of something huge; a very small, seemingly insignificant part of a tree. Well, the seed had big dreams, and aspirations. But he always kept them to himself. All day long, hanging from a limb, blowing in the wind, sitting in the scorching sun. But it didn’t matter much to the seed. He felt that he was somehow prepared for the weather that came in the season, so on he lived happily flipping and turning in the wind, until one day when he was feeling at the top of his game, he fell to the ground from the tree.

“Oh my,” said the seed from the tree. “Where am I? I’ve never been this far from the tree I grew up on. Thought I’d be there for life. But I did have big dreams for my life. Maybe this is a part of my reaching my goals.”

While I was high up in the tree, I remember other seeds in my bunch saying that they wanted to just go down to the dirt, and try to stay near home. But although I was a part of that bunch, I felt that there were more great things in store for me. So I didn’t mind being separated from the others hanging on the limb. Moreover, it may have been holding me back. But now that I’m loosed from the tree, What can I be?” The seed looked around. He saw a table on the side. “Hmmm, that’s nice. But that looks too large, and besides that would be a long term goal anyhow.”

The seed looked on. He saw a light pole standing tall on the side of the street. Looking up to the top, he thought, “That would take some time too, I’d better think a little smaller,” so he did. He saw a pile of wood a stretch down the street from where he was. “Oh no! Why they are not doing anything, but laying around on the side of a back yard. What purpose would they have?” HE saw some children playing in a field. Soon they stopped to have lunch. One kid had a bologna sandwich, some chips and an orange. Another had a lunch box filled with other neat things to eat including a juicy piece of watermelon. “MMMM, said the seed, that looks so refreshing for the kids, and they had seeds in them.” But the seeds were just plucked to the ground on the concrete. “What a shame for those little seeds. They may never get to be what they were meant to be.”

“I know what I really want to do though,” said the seed. “I want to be something that makes people happy; something that brings a smile. I want to be used over and over, and over again and again. That would make me happy. But how will I ever do all of these things that I want to do, when I am stuck sitting here under this tree. No one knows I'm even here. No one sees me, and I think I’m getting bored just laying here on the ground. I’m restless, but can’t do a thing about it. How will I ever become something good.”

“Maybe I’ll just go to sleep. It’s starting to get a little chilly down here in the shade. I’m used to being high up in the sun most of my life.” As the days went by, the seed just sat there on the ground wishing, dreaming, looking, and hoping for something good to happen to him, so that he can become something more than he was.

Soon on a cold night, the rain started falling for a while, and the seed thought, “ok, maybe this can help me along on life’s journey.” But when the rain ended, he was just wet, and stuck to the ground in an uncomfortable position. When the morning sun came, all the pretty birds started fluttering throughout the trees, and through the streets. Chirping happily, and clucking loudly were the woodpeckers on the sides of a few tall oak trees. The seed began to think, “Everyone is happy except for me. Why did I have to fall from the tree branch the other day? I was enjoying my days, blowing in the wind, dreaming of a beautiful future. Maybe I should just forget my dumb dreams. I will be doomed like the orange and watermelon seeds I saw from the kid’s lunches.” All hope was dwindling away for the seed, when all of a sudden a robin swooped down, and ate the seed. “Oh my," said the seed. "What is this? The end has come.”

“Yes, this brown and black bird with a red chest has gobbled me up.” Inside the bird, the seed saw some worms, a few bugs, pushed way back in the corner. Then some more came down into the stomach of the bird as it ate more. “I can’t believe this! I spent my whole life trying to be something good, and I end up in the belly of a bird, all scrunched up in some smelly mess!” Hours went by, and mostly everything became disgusting, more and more. “My life has definitely ended said the seed. I give up.” Moving through the uncomfortable lining of the bird’s intestines, the seed somehow managed to not die, but was flown well into the forest far away then pooped out of the bird as it flew on its way south for the winter.

Splat! The poop hit the ground. The seed was stuck in the poop. “This is awful!” said the seed. “Now I’m not able to move again on the ground, but even worst, I’m stuck in the poop. This is not my idea of a life for myself. I am so ashamed of what I have become. I’m glad I’m far away where no one knows me. Perhaps here I’ll find my final resting place.”

Next, as the weather got cold, and the trees were getting bare, the seed found that it was not really dying, but found comfort in the poop. Was he just becoming complacent? “Did I let my standards become lower for my life? I didn’t know any longer.” So he just laid there on the ground in the forest until Spring came about, not realizing that when he was covered with the poop, under the snows on the dirt, he started to increase in size. “Something is happening to me.” It started to grow into the dirt, and was now becoming a tree as well. His hopes began to come alive again, and yes, he started to dream again. “I remember,” said the former seed, “I wanted to be something great, something that made people happy, and was of several good uses… but which one would it be? I want to be so much now, I can’t tell what I really want to become. And how do I become anything when I’m way out here in the middle of the forest growing. Ahh, but the cool Summer’s breezes feels nice.”

Many years went by, and the seed tree grew taller and taller, thicker and thicker. He became so large that he was chosen to be chopped down. “Oh no,” said the seed tree. “How will I ever reach my goals with so many unfortunate things happening to me?”

Sure enough, the seed tree was chopped down with several others from the forest. Chopped, sawed, slivered, then hammered, nailed, and cut. The seed tree was made into a table; a table that was placed in a homeless shelter for many unfortunate people to sit around to eat meals when they were hungry. What a blessing he was. The seed tree was also made into many other useful things including strong tall telephone poles, and street light poles in the city. But most of all, the seed tree was proud to become a piece of paper with a note written on it that read, “Dear, Mary, I love you deeply, and when I return home from the service, we will get married, and start our family.” And another with a kid’s creative drawings on it made into a Mother’s Day card. And yes, this seed tree was made into countless items that made people happy, made them smile, was very useful, and lastly was used to write a short story called, “The Seed.” Well done, seed. You went through a lot, but you did good.