The Best Time to Plant a Tree
The poster, old and faded, and tacked to the back wall of a potting shed, said this: The best time to plant a tree was fifty years ago. But the next best time is today.
Life’s like that, isn’t it? Imagine if you had started putting 10% of your income into a retirement fund when you were eighteen! But back then you were bulletproof and immortal, and there were more important things to do with your money, like a new car and travelling. And yes, we should have spent a lot more time visiting Mum and Dad while they were still with us, but urgent things kept getting in the way.
So many things we should have done.
But the good news about trees is that you can still plant one today. When my Dad was about 95, the village doctor dropped by to chat and found him out planting trees. “Leslie,” said Dr. Gerry, “I expect to come around in twenty years and see you sitting in the shade of that tree!” Well, it didn’t quite work out that way, but at 95 my Dad could sit under the shade of trees he had planted when he was a mere 75.
All the things that we should have done years ago, like taking up piano lessons or starting that new business or learning platform speaking– all those could be started today, and assuming we have a few years ahead of us, will begin paying dividends before you know it.
Do you have some trees that need planting?