The Oak Tree

The oak tree stood at the top of the hill.

The winds came with great ferocity and howled and swirled. The birds flew down briskly waving their great wings far apart. They would plummet from the sky like arrows and then cushion their fall on the branches of the oak tree at the top of the hill. Then the hunters came. The wolves stalked in the dark looking for prey. The lions came looking for the wolves. And the vultures came to pick up the strewn remains of both.
The locusts came and ate the leaves of the oak tree. They left little but the brittle twigs and branches that protruded out like the bony limbs of a beggar. The ants came and made their nest within the womb of hollow in the oak tree. The ant eaters came to seduce them out with their tongues. In all this the oak tree did not let out even a giggle.
Then lightning came. It lit up the hill in a gentle glow--first from the sky and then from the ground. Fire swept up the hillsides like a flowing ocean moving against gravity. The fire flowed up and around the arms of the oak tree, embracing it like a cashmere sweater on a hot day. It tempted the oak tree to join in its dance in the leaping flames of black smoke. The mangled and tangled oak tree stood strong and immobile. Its arrogance bugged all the creatures around it. All they could do was hammer at it with all that they had, just to watch it crumble with a tear or two. But it refused.
It seemed inherently wrong for someone, even a tree, to stand so transfixed and immobile and resolute in the imperfections of this world. It seemed so unfair for the oak tree to stand so strong in a world in which all the forest creatures felt so weak.
But after months of the earth, the winds and the sky sending creatures from around the world to bend its will, finally they all stopped. They sat and watched and recognized that the strength of each built the body of the oak tree. It was no threat to them. And recognizing that it represented the best of each of them they were at peace. It was then that many of the animals decided that they wanted to aspire to be just like the oak tree.