As you read this article, open your mind’s eye to the image of a small bud on the tip of a tree branch. Look closely so you can see the moist nodule as it lengthens before your very eyes. Slowly the budding shoot forms the succulent body and delicate stem of a new leaf.
For this process to happen the tree needs only three things; the first is a trusted water supply traveling through mineral rich soil. The tree’s roots soaks in this life-giving water from the ground through the trunk of the tree to the very tips of the branches. The water is rich with minerals primarily created from past animal and plant life. It nourishes the supple leaves so that they can be molded into the full-bodied leaf they are designed to be. Without this water the branch would be too dry to allow the easing of soft leaf out of its body and the leaf would crumble as it tries to unfurl from the tight bud.
Bring your mind back to the image of the leaf, it has now opened into the likeness of the other leaves. The second life-giving supply comes from the sun. Without sunlight the leaf would not be able to do its part in the function of a tree. The leaves are created in a way so they can catch the rays of the sun and turns them into the needed chemical resource that ensures the tree will survive. It is the cycle of the sun, through the various seasons, which teach the tree a variety of experiences. The tree learns how to adapt to hot days and cold nights. It learns that the years have patterns which causes the tree to respond in advance of the predicted seasons.
As we visit our leaf for the final time, the fully matured growth needs a final component to fulfill its duties as a leaf. The leaf must have a constant supply of air. This air must be shared so as to support life in general, all forms of life, not just plant life. The leaf does not think nor is it taught to act; it will take the poison of carbon dioxide out of the air and emit oxygen, the animal’s breath of life, back into the air. If it did not do this, the animal life which provides the water its source of mineral deposits would disappear and all life on Earth would cease to exist. Thus, the exchange of air, in part life supporting and part poison, guarantees that all life will thrive. This is a lesson of the relationship of good and bad. What is nurturing for one group brings death to the other. The ying and yang of life.
Now, replace the image of that leaf sprout with that of a new employee. Every new associate requires three things in order to solve the problems they are hired to solve; education being the first. As a new associate we are put into a very delicate position. We must be so pliable as to be molded into the image of the other “leaves” of the firm. It is the responsibility of the company to force feed into the minds of their workers the trusted education as their enriched “water”. Without the education provided by the firm, the newbies would be unable to function as a Solutionary to their clients. Just as the tree needs to be constantly watered so too is education a life-long commitment.
Our well-educated employee also requires their own type of “sun” in the form of a mentor as a curator of experiences. Without experience of the mentor the new educated associate will be unable to foresee future stumbling blocks destined to be in their way. As they themselves begin to acquire years of service, they will be asked to be the “sun” to other new “leaves”. The unity brought to the firm through a culture of nurtured tenure is much like a tree full of leaves that uniformly turning to face the sun for fuel. Just like the tree needs food rich water and sun, so it is that Education without experience will breed a smart failure and experience without education will create a foolish replica of an associate.
This brings us to the comparison of our business associate and the air they breathe. Every worker must deal with the negatives of the world every day while also producing positive outcomes for their company and the clients. Just like the tree needs leave to take in the air to live so does the employer need workers with strong ethical values that spread to other living creatures. Without ethics the workforce would put out nothing but poison or negative results. Each of us must strengthen our resolve to ignore the bad of society and give back the good to the community. By doing so we too breath out the air of survival. The ying and yang of life.
Finally consider this last truth. Just as the tree is created to take in the carbon dioxide and emit oxygen so is that mankind is created to know right from wrong. No one teaches the tree this miraculous action nor as an infant are, we taught right from wrong; it is an instinct given to us by our Creator. However, it has been proven that we can and do greatly benefit from the reinforcement provided through ethical training.
Life-long trusted supply of enriched water = Life-long trusted supply of education.
The daily presence of the sun that create changes inside the tree = The daily support and sharing of an experienced trusted mentor that guides us toward needed change.
Air made up of toxins and serums to the community of life = Ethics taken from the bad around us and given back as the good that we do.
Natural Laws = Truth!
Any questions?
Anthony “Tony” Boquet, the author of “The Bloodline of Wisdom, The Awakening of a Modern Solutionary” If this is my last post, I want all to know there was only one purpose for all that I have written; to have made a positive difference in the lives of others.