Must We Bend Others—or Not?
Copyright © 1984 By Odell Sneeden Hathaway, III (Comments on the poem "Birches" by Robert Frost) Do we have the right not to play with and bend each other? The boy who bends down the tree did not set out to conquer it. The idea of hurting it would never occur to him. It was not a job or a task — each tree was new and different. No rules. Just feeling. There was something in the boy that, when he passed a tree, made him reach out and touch it. This is the true meaning of play: acting without thought — not like playing chess. Most people do not even “play” music; they merely recreate notes. Few allow themselves to flow into their instrument, not knowing what will come out until the moment of playing. But this little boy, passing a tree, goes with the flow of life — which, through him, plays with the tree. In the same way, each of us should play with one another! We live in a world where we are afraid to play. Each of us becomes rigid and stiff. When the ice builds u...