Once There Was A TREE....

 Once there was a tree....
and she loved a little boy.

I had another great moment in the "Reading Advantage" program. Did I say how much I love that program. I think Iz thinks she is the only one learning and yet there isn't an evening that I don't walk away knowing something new or feeling somehow enriched. I love the program.

On the first visit I gave Iz one of my favorite books; "The Giving Tree" by Shel Silverstein. I have loved that author and that book for so long. The book has such a deep and profound message beyond the simple story that is told. It's one of those conundrums that life offers. The story and then the deeper story. Life always gives a deeper meaning if you just think broader. So many people never get past the simple meaning.

Today, we were covering the vowel o, did you know that there are 6 different ways to say the letter o. The first pass through the book we concentrated on the actually phonetics of the book. Iz had practised so much and had it nearly perfect even though she would never admit it and then we read it for meaning. This time around we discussed how she had read book in Japanese, French and English and how with each language the tree is portrayed differently. I was so stunned.

I have always been so puzzled by the meaning of the book. Shel S isn't so simple as to have a tree give everything and then just be "happy". In a real way he challenges the reader beyond the simple story to ask, do we give everything we have to be happy? The answer is intrinsic; it depends on perspective. I have always felt that the tree was happy for the little boy but maybe not so much for itself and yet, since it's purpose is sacrificial, it met it's life's goal, or did it?

In the Japanese culture, this book is sad, almost a tragedy. The culture cannot come to terms with the tree every being happy both from the story's point of view and from the sense of reverence a tree is given in the religion of the Japanese - Shinto. This book isn't the happy story so basic to a reader who sees only the surface words reveal. As we discussed this and the principle of giving and to what point someone gives it was so cool to actually be so alike in our paradigms.

We grew up a world apart in two completely different cultures and yet think so similarly on quite a few levels. Today I learned just how small the world can be.

Did I say how much I love the "Reading Advantage" program.