Days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months and months turn into years as I sit alone and watch the world whiz by me.  I go through the seasons by changing colors, losing my leaves, and blossoming into my true beautiful form.  The kids of the city knew every texture of me and every sturdy branch that could withstand their weight as they climbed to the top.  Now they don’t remember me while their completely lost in their corporate jobs and also trying to raise kids of their own.  But their kids will never know me like they did.  They will walk past me every day distracted by their smart phones.  They won’t be able to hear the wind whistling through my leaves over their blaring headphones and the cars honking.  I am losing the children of this city and they don’t know that they are losing me too without even knowing me first.
            I am the last one here.  I am the last one that they will never climb.  I am the last one that they will never carve their initials into when they go on their first date with their childhood crush.  I am the last one that they will never remember.
            Every day I see the routines of the city people play out before me like a never-ending movie.  Except in this movie there are no plot-twists: the woman walks past the old man everyday begging for money and she never acknowledges his existence.  And in this movie there’s no romantic climax: the teenage boy tries to win the affection of the shy and quiet girl, but she’s too afraid to let him in.  This movie is not even a movie at all: its life.  It’s the way that life plays out and it doesn’t always have a happy ending.  The woman doesn’t suddenly have a change of heart and start an organization for the homeless.  The boy doesn’t get the girl to unleash her true, inner self.
            And as the months turn into years, the boy has a new fiancé.  And I haven’t seen the homeless man in over a decade.  And the woman has a little boy that she walks with, happy that she doesn’t have to push him away from the man so he doesn’t have to see the ugliness of the world this early in his life.  And the girl is still completely immersed in herself, not letting anyone in, or anything out.
I wonder how they all would have turned out if they looked up.  What if the woman recognized the pain and suffering of the man? What if the man looked up and out of his suffering and took in the world around him, and realized that he could be happy? What if the girl looked up to herself and did not let the insecurities get to her?  What if the boy never looked away from the girl?
I do believe in destiny.  I know that I’m only a tree, but I’ve been on this earth long enough to know when something is meant to happen.  I’ve seen many lovers hold hands and promise each other forever when, really, forever wasn’t as long as they thought it would be.  I’ve seen kids play pretend about being an airplane pilot or actress, but grow into adults and fall into an everlasting routine of a job that will only get them by.  I know the potential people have.  I know that those lovers’ could really have lasted forever.  I know that those kids could have accomplished their dreams.   But I also know that they didn’t try to push to make what they wanted happen.  The homeless man begged and begged for other people to help him, but never helped himself.  The boy tried to get the girl to come out of her shell without realizing that her shell was her comfort place and she would have  enjoyed nothing more than to be in that comfort place with him.  I do believe in destinies, and I do believe that sometimes we just don’t reach them.
I know my destiny.  My destiny is to stay on this city block as long as possible. I can last through the storms and the people who will want to tear me down to build another skyscraper.  I can last through the pain and suffering I see people go through every day.  And I can also last through the sunny days, when everyone is taking life in and just living.  I can last the nervousness of the first date and the excitement of that kiss.  It is my destiny to last and experience this beautiful world.  It is my destiny to look up for the people who can’t.  It is my destiny to stay.