Taking a leaf off the ground and contemplating it as an object in and of itself is very inspiring. Its shape and color, the way it feels in your hand, its delicate veins and the stem that once held fast to the branch of a tree – all of these qualities reveal a leaf to be a miniature work of natural art.
A leaf transforms the elements of its environment, sunlight, carbon dioxide and rain into nourishment for its tree. This beautiful, nearly weightless, piece of nature is a vital conduit to the branch, that is a conduit to the tree, that is a conduit to the roots of the tree.
One of the many gifts that nature offers us is a clear demonstration of the interdependence between all living things.
The person who exhales the carbon dioxide, the clouds that produce the rain, the sun that gives light, the leaf that transforms all these things into sustenance for a tree – not one of these could survive without being part of the cycle.
Each living being is dependent upon other living things for its survival. When we look at the world, we see that this is not a place where different beings survive independently of one another.
Earth is home to a web of living things that are connected to each other through a spinning kaleidoscope of relationships.