It's been good, but next time, it will be better
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
Little Tree!
By
Francis William Bessler
August 5th, 2014
A few days ago, I saw a movie that I really liked. It's on DVD. So you can track it down if you like. I think it was produced in 1986 or so - because that is what a friend, Lynn, told me who also watched it with my friend, Nancy, and me - and a few others.
As it is, there is a "film society" here in Laramie, Wyoming - where I live - that occasionally features a Sunday night movie at the local Albany County Public Library. My friend, Nancy, and I go to some of them, but neither of us like movies featuring violence. So we skip a lot of them too.
Last Sunday night they featured a movie called THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE. It is about a young Cherokee Indian boy of about 8 learning about his tradition - in the midst of Americans who think that all native Indians should abandon their ways to adopt the ways of Americans. The movie could have depicted events whereby the overridden Cherokees suffered at the hands of the upstart Americans, but to my liking because I do not like violence, it did not - even though in reality many of the ancestors of Little Tree - the name of the young Cherokee Indian boy - had suffered mightily at the hands of upstart Americans.
Anyway, the grandparents of Little Tree were a peaceful duo who adopted Little Tree after the death of the real parents. In spite of having to deal with upstart Americans who insisted their ways be adopted over the ways of the much maligned Cherokees, the grandparents of Little Tree insisted that Little Tree be taught "The Way" of the Cherokees too. Based on the words of the grandparents, that "way" was to see all life as a progression of wonder. This life, they argued, is good, even though it could be expected that the next life will be better. Upon his death, the grandfather of Little Tree said it this way: It's been good, but next time, it will be better; and then he died.
And that is what I believe too. I do believe, though, that if "next time" will be better, it has to begin by being "good" this time. Maybe one could argue: it's been good, but next time it will be the same. Why? Because that which really makes this life "good" is the exact same thing that will probably exist "next time." I think it is only believing that "this time" is lacking that makes so many want to believe that a "next time" will be better. At least in this story of THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE, Little Tree was taught that this life is good. That is certainly a step in the right direction. Wouldn't it be nice if we were all taught the same thing?
Good For Little Tree
I must say that I really identify with the message of the grandparents of Little Tree. In spite of the ancestors of Little Tree having to endure what was called "The Trail of Tears" in having to be marched from their homeland by upstart Americans, the Cherokees never lost hope - at least many of them did not. Thousands of Cherokees lost their lives in being marched by upstart righteous Americans who decided that the Cherokees did not deserve to stay where they were. From the Southeast of America to what was considered to be the wasteland of Oklahoma, in the 19th Century, the Cherokees were escorted by Americans who considered "their ways" so much better than the ways of the Cherokees.
Well, for what it's worth, I believe in "The Way" or "The Ways" of the Cherokees. I believe in loving this life because it is wonderful; and I do not believe in looking down on life in order to make myself look better - or more worthy. I believe that what makes me worthy is to see myself as part of the wonderful world of Nature of which I am a part. I believe in Little Tree - and what Little Tree was taught.
The Message of Little Tree
I love movies like THE EDUCATION OF LITTLE TREE because they help me to realize what life is really all about. I loved to "witness" the lives of the grandparents because they lived like they believe - and taught their grandson, Little Tree, likewise.
In this wonderful story of a little boy - like I once was - the grandfather urged his grandson to find a "secret place" near where they lived in some land of Tennessee where he could go and be alone and find peace. What a wonderful, lovely idea! Go find some place where you can be alone and find peace, surrounded by lovely scenes of Nature - where you can truly "find God" simply because God is the source of all existence.
So, Little Tree did as his grandfather bid and scampered off to find a "secret place" where he and his dog could go - and they found a meadow amidst the mountains where they lived - with a brook running through it where Little Tree could play and just be part of it all.
I had a "secret place" too when I was growing up like Little Tree, but I guess it was not so secret and it was not just one place. It was really everywhere on the farm of my parents and family in north central Wyoming near a little town called Powell where we lived - and it was everywhere I could walk - like to the barren hills beyond the farm. Oh what I found in those hills - treasures that no "adult" would consider worth while.
There was a neighbor kid called "Donny" who would often go with me as we searched the barren hills behind both our places for wonders within the rocks. We would pick up what looked like just ordinary gray or brown rocks, break them open, and find rainbows inside. Maybe no one saw those "rainbows" but Donny and me, but oh how I learned to love life and the wonders of it by just looking inside some old "ugly" rocks. In truth, nothing is really "plain" or "ugly" - as long as you know there is wonder to be found within.
I am not sure where Donny has gone in his life, but I have gone on to become like Little Tree. I hope Donny has met Little Tree too; and I hope that sometime in your life, you can adopt "The Way" of Little Tree too.
Like the grandparents of Little Tree told their grandson, it's been good, but next time, it will be better! As I admitted before, I do relate to that message, but it does not really matter to me if the next life is "better" or not. I think I will settle for just as good. Why? Because if I live life insisting that a "next life" is better, I will likely pay less attention to the goodness of this life. In the end, it does not matter if the next life is better or not. It only matters that we are grateful for the one at hand. I'm sure that Little Tree and his grandparents would agree.
How about you?
Anyway, Thanks, Little Tree!
FWB