Appreciate The Small Things

“Maybe God created the desert so

that man could appreciate the dates trees, he thought.”   

Kai

The desert is such a barren place that pretty much anything besides sand is a treasure.  For instance if you were camping in a desert with nothing but a tent and you saw a redwood tree you would use everything you could salvage from that tree.  The trunk could be made into a shelter, the branches could become weapons, and the leaves could smoke and keep insects away. Here in northern California there’s redwood trees everywhere so we feel like there's no need to put extra work into using everything within that redwood tree. We can just get the good wood and move onto the next tree. Then there’s all these branches and leaves rotting on the ground never to be used.  What if we chopped down every tree and our county badly needed money.  These huge redwood trees are the main reason tourist come to Humboldt County.  Without out the trees we have no tourist and then we loose all the money they spend here. You never know what you got ‘till it’s gone.  

    Say your neighbor had 20 apple trees in his yard and your yard was so shady that you were incapable of growing apple trees.  Your neighbors trees produce so many apples that all the extra apples just fall on the ground and attract bugs and animals.  He becomes tired from all the animals and bugs swarming his yard that he wishes that apple trees never existed.  By saying that you're implying that an apple tree is worth just as much as the banana peel you threw away the other night after you slipped and falled over it.  There meaningless and their only bringing you anger.  You on the other hand want to start an apple pie business.  Infact your personal legend was to bake hundreds of pies a day for the community to enjoy. You try multiple times to see if it actually is possible to grow a tree in your yard, but it isn’t. Being able to grow a tree would be a gift from god instead of a worthless banana peel.  Another mans treasure is another mans trash or in this case, banana peel.
    This last summer my mom and I took a trip to Vietnam.  Two summers prior to that trip we went to Egypt.  Both those trips taught me to be thankful for everything I have.  In Egypt, anywhere we went  there would always be these men begging and begging you to look in their shop in hope that you would buy something.  All these men were trying to do is put food on the table for his wife and kids.  Buying a simple key chain for a dollar is all he needed.  That made me thankful that I could come home knowing that I would have something to eat.  It made me feel secure. While in Vietnam I experienced something so sad that I will never forget it.  Instead of men begging you to buy their product, kids would miss school to support their family by selling post cards.  I had an extra dollar and gave a kid the dollar in exchange for a post card.  The little boy tried to give me the entire stack.  There must have been a hundred cards.  I couldn’t accept the offer.  I told him he should keep the cards.  All of a sudden 20 kids came out of nowhere begging for another dollar.  It was almost like I was Justin Bieber.  I had to run back to the car while being surrounded by kids yelling.  After getting in the car the kids were banging on the windshield and blocking our way of escape.  The little boy kept trying to give me the stack of cards but I knew if I were to take the cards he would have nothing to sell.  Most kids would be stoked to get a free dollar but he was too kind to get something for nothing.  These experiences made me appreciate the date trees.
    The point I’m trying to get through to you is to not take things for granted. Santiago's sheep may not mean much to a king but those sheep made Santiago able to turn into the wind.  The little thing’s might not mean anything to someone with a lot, but if you utilize something to its fullest extent you can accomplish anything.  Give carbon some time and put it through some pressure and you got diamond. Imagine where diamond can get you if sheep can turn you into the wind.