Tree rings

The age of a tree is measured by the number of rings in its bark. In a lot of ways, it represents the human relationship. At its core, tree rings always start with a small but yet, very defined circle. Rings like these are like family and friends, the truly important ones that matter. They maybe small in numbers but they are the most significant.

Tree rings expand in diameter and move outwardly. These outer rings, some maybe defined and the others, could be easily missed. These seem like the many other circles in our lives – acquaintances, co-workers, common interest cliques and the list goes on.

Tree rings change according to seasons, rainfall and foreign infestation. Every ring varies in terms of depth, colour and definition but the most stable and predictable pattern is, it keeps growing as it ages.

And very much like life, our circles grow, for better or for worst, along the years of our life. However, every once in awhile, there are individuals so unique that I am unsure where to plot them. Too few to form a ring of its own, too strong to be only be vague line but yet, too temporary to be a defined one.

In life, there are chance encounters that turned into something more. People, whom we allowed to enter our lives, let them stay and then, had to let them leave. Echoing a lesson from The Little Prince, people to whom we let ourselves be ‘tamed’ and suddenly, we are no longer the hundred thousand other little boys. We became unique in the entire world to this person, and vice versa.

How do we explain the reasons we allowed ourselves to grow onto someone and then, due to circumstances, grow out of them? How do we account all those real emotions that were once so strong and real but dissolved into nothing after being diluted by time?

So, where do these people belong? Specks, spots or scars along these lines?

Friends, lovers, family, acquaintances. It’s easy to forget the many circles we have in our life, especially when we are overwhelmed with the endless to-dos. However, these people are somehow, more profound. When it is all done and over, we can only pack our hearts and seal them up, hope the next one that comes along wouldn’t be such a hassle. These people will be nothing more than a distant memory that may or may not tug at our hearts, just like the specks, spots or scars that marred the tree rings of our life.