See the other side of something you want to hug

One day my Father took me to a forest where there were oak and pine trees. I had the habit of going and hugging huge trees to feel their strength and energy. In the forest near a little lake, I saw a big oak tree. I hurried to hug it, but my Father warned, “No, don’t do that.”

“Why not? I don’t understand.”

“Well, hold my hand, and let us walk to the tree.” We approached the tree and he said, “You see, this side of the tree is good, but let us look at the other side.”

We walked carefully to the other side of the huge oak tree and stood ten feet away from it. “What do you see there?”

“A big hole in the tree.”

“What else?”

“Daddy, what is that in the hole?”

“It’s a nest of rattlesnakes.”

I was terrified. My imagination ran wild... I was already hugging the tree and the snakes were running after me... I was squeezing the fingers of my Father’s hand and my body was sweaty. “This is a lesson for you,” he said, “to see the other side of something you want to hug...”

-Torkom Saraydarian

Education as Transformation vol.2