Once upon a time there was a lonely palm tree who didn’t understand why she looked like the other palm trees, sorta, but didn’t feel like the other palm trees (so she thought). One day she decided to muster the courage to strike up a conversation with the rest of the gang.
“Hey guys, what are your thoughts on these coconuts? Kinda weird, dontcha think? They’re rough, stringy, and hard as a rock on the outside but sweet and tender on the inside.”
But nobody replied. They all stood there looking at each other with a, “what’s up with the odd ball” question scrunched up on their faces.
The lonely palm tree answered her own question with a shrug and went back to her thoughts where she was content and comfortable but a little sad because she wanted to feel connected and understood.
As the sun began to sink into the sea one of the elder palm trees bent down and rustled the lonely tree’s palms in a playful way and said, “lonely palm, I’ve been thinking about what you said about coconuts. What a clever observation. I never thought of coconuts in that way before. Thank you for sharing.”
The lonely palm tree swayed in delight beaming with happiness at being recognized and praised by such a respected member of her community. “Thank you kind palm. Tell me, why do I feel so lonely when I live here among so many other trees?”
The old tree was quiet for a while and then he said with a smile, “maybe because you’re not unlike the misunderstood coconut you were telling us all about. And I think nobody replied because we all feel that way about ourselves from time to time. We’re all the same little tree. When you live as long as I have you will come to understand that we spend most of our time feeling awkward and different but deep down we are all basically the same. We all long to be heard, understood, accepted, loved. We are all lonely until we realize we are all the same.”
The lonely palm tree began to rethink her place among the other palm trees as a gentle breeze brushed by, warming her heart and quieting her self-doubts, “It’s a beautiful day to be here among the coconuts with you kind elder.”
Square One Notes 