Ferocious Roots…
We live in dangerous times. When it is easier to rail against each other and stand apart rather than choose to move forward arm-in-arm.
Easier to trumpet our unhappiness and injustices suffered rather than admit we are not the only ones who can point to long histories of cruel bias and pain.
Easier to hunker down with our own and keen over the unfairness we endure rather than empathize with others who feel and experience the same.
Easier to hate because we know that to love is more than a self-serving emotion. Love is hard work. It must be tended carefully and patiently to yield results that endure.
Ah, but who would not prefer love to hate, compassion to self-pity, common ground to isolation, friendship to enmity? In today’s climate, I am not sure I want to hear the answer.
When I am troubled as I am now, I often turn to the words and lessons of others whose poetic language and evocative imagery identify both the problem and the solution with stunning clarity.
Here then is an excerpt from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros:
“Four Skinny Trees”
They are the only ones who understand me. I am the only one who understands them. Four skinny trees with skinny necks and pointy elbows like mine. Four who do not belong here but are here. Four raggedy excuses planted by the city. From our room we can hear them, but Nenny just sleeps and doesn't appreciate these things.
Their strength is secret. They send ferocious roots beneath the ground. They grow up and they grow down and grab the earth between their hairy toes and bite the sky with violent teeth and never quit their anger. This is how they keep.
Let one forget his reason for being, they'd all droop like tulips in a glass, each with their arms around the other. Keep, keep, keep, trees say when I sleep. They teach.
When I am too sad and too skinny to keep keeping, when I am a tiny thing against so many bricks, then it is I look at trees. When there is nothing left to look at on this street. Four who grew despite concrete. Four who reach and do not forget to reach. Four whose only reason is to be and be.
(Cisneros, S. (1984). “Four Skinny Trees.” The House on Mango Street. New York: Vintage Books, pp. 74-75.)
To be strong and endure against the “many bricks,” that are hurled at us, it is up to us to harness our anger into reaching, striving “each with their arms around the other.” Stronger together. Better, too. Are we brave enough to try? Do we want to?
Answer to Unpacking Education No. 28, Question of the Day:
If you read the blog, you already know that the answer is b) Sandra Cisneros. The House on Mango Street, which includes the chapter “Four Skinny Trees,” is an autobiographically based account of what it was like to grow up and try to find your identity and value in a patriarchal Mexican American family, the only girl among six brothers. Cisneros’ writing and awards are testament to her own courage, ferocious roots, and convictions.